


Transitions

by Reader115



Series: Promise series [3]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:59:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5764039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader115/pseuds/Reader115
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Begins 3 years after 'Confusion' - There are a great many changes coming for the Hamato clan. 3rd story in a continuation series. I don't own the turtles.</p><p>Originally posted on FF site from Jul 15, 2015 - Jul 28, 2015</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"What's fun about this?" Leo asked, staring in at the penguins as they slept huddled together.

"They're cuddling. It's cute," Raph said, before dashing off to the next exhibit. "Jeezus, Leo! Come look at this grizzly bear!"

Leo sighed and followed Raph's voice in the darkened Central Park Zoo. Mikey and Woody had apparently snuck in one night and went on and on to Raphael about how great it was. Leo knew it wouldn't be long before Raph dragged him in as well. He knew how much Raph liked animals, but Leo didn't see the point in staring at animals in enclosures. Gave him the creeps.

"He's huge," Raph whispered when Leo reached him. They stared at the sleeping giant. "I always thought it would be cool to see a bear in the woods at the farmhouse."

"And now?" Leo asked, smirking at Raph's look of awe.

"I no longer think it would be cool."

"Good boy. I'm so pleased our date night could also serve as an educational event for you."

"Shaddup," Raph said, swinging his arm around Leo's neck to pull him closer so he could kiss him.

He pulled away and tugged on Leo's hand as they kept walking until they reached the next exhibit. They stood staring inside for a few moments, looking for the creature.

"Holy fuck, Leo," Raph said, whispering again as a leopard came into view.

Leo wasn't sure why Raphael was whispering so much around the caged animals, but he thought it was kind of endearing. He watched as the leopard began sauntering towards where the two turtles stood.

"Look at his eyes. He wants to chew on me."

"I won't let him," Leo said, eyeing the enclosure for its effectiveness, just in case. Raphael always did have a pretty good sense about what wild animals were thinking.

Raph grabbed Leo's hand again and backed away from the enclosure. "Let's keep going. I'm sure there are less deadly animals to see too."

He pulled Leo past the red pandas and into the tropic zone. They glanced at some birds who were labeled as pigeons, although they didn't look like any pigeons they'd seen walking around the city before, and Raph made a joke about finding Pigeon Pete a girlfriend.

Raph bypassed the turtles and Leo knew with their history with Spike not to comment on it.

"Holy shit, poison dart frog," Raph said, eyeing the little blue frog. "This one reminds me of you."

"Because he's blue?" Leo asked, over his shoulder as he headed to the next case.

"He's blue. But he's also sleek and muscular and although he looks unimpressed with a giant turtle staring at him, you know he's taking in every sound and movement around him. He's secretly dangerous. You'd never guess by lookin at him that he's a deadly killer."

Four years together and Raphael still had the ability to make Leo smile like a dork. Maybe the zoo trip was a good idea.

Raph grinned at the dorky smile and then leaned in to look at the frog again.

"I take it back," Raph finally said, straightening from the frog exhibit, "this place is full of deadly animals."

"Maybe you shouldn't come over here where the boa is then," Leo said. "Is it bad to have your skin crawl while looking at what's probably a distant relative?"

They walked on and circled around the sleeping sea lions before Raph spotted the theater.

"What the hell is 4D?" Raph asked, "Should we see a movie? Do you think 4D means the animals themselves jump out at you during the show?"

Leo laughed loudly. "After seeing what we've just seen do you really want these animals jumping out at you?" His laughter was joined by Raph's own rumbling laughter. "Besides, you never behave yourself in the theater."

Raph laughed again, thinking of his and Leo's now almost monthly trips to see a movie on the big screen.

"I think I behave very well," he retorted, pulling Leo towards him again for another kiss.

"Is that all there is to see?" Leo asked when they pulled apart. Raphael had been the one to study the map when they'd first arrived. He ran a hand down the front of Raph's plastron where it was soon captured by one of Raphael's hands.

"One more thing," Raphael said, trying to hide a small smile as he pulled on Leo's hands once more.

They turned a corner and Leo watched Raph pull some food out of a small dispenser before jumping into an enclosure.

"Raph!"

Raph shushed him. "No killin machines in this one. Get in here."

Leo silently followed him, eyeing the inside of the enclosure. He watched Raph enter a small barn and followed him in. His eyes adjusted quickly and he soon found Raphael squatting in front of a small group of tiny goats who were eating out of his hand. Leo had to admit the goats were cute, but Raphael –

"You. Are. Adorable," Leo said.

"Shaddup," Raph said, turning his body so Leo could no longer see his smiling face.

"Stop moving. I'm going to take your picture."

"No. The flash will upset the goats."

"Like they'll stampede?"

Raph's shoulders shook with silent laughter.

The goats finished off the food he had and he scooped one up in his arms and walked around with it, petting its head.

"There's supposed to be pigs, too," he mumbled as he searched around, ignoring Leo's grin.

An hour later, Leo finally convinced Raph that they should let the animals go back to sleep and he was able to get him out of the barn.

"You just want my attention all on you," Raph said, rubbing on some hand sanitizer after Leo pointed it out.

"Yes," Leo said, pulling him close to him. "I certainly do." He slid his hand back down the front of Raph's plastron and was once again stopped by Raph's hand. He looked up questioningly at Raphael and found him staring back into the petting zoo enclosure.

"Some of those goats are _babies_ , Leo."

Leo rolled his eyes dramatically and hid a smile as he pulled on Raph's hand to drag him further into Central Park and out of baby goat vision.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone scattered after morning practice and Leo and Raph had the kitchen to themselves for once. Leo sipped his tea and read the newspaper while Raphael drank his coffee, waiting for Leo to spill whatever it was he had to tell him. Growing up as brothers plus four years together and Raphael could tell when Leo was building up to say something.

"Usagi invited me to visit him today," Leo said, putting the newspaper down.

Raphael blinked. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting. "I hate it when you visit other dimensions."

"I bet very few people have ever said that sentence."

"No jokin around to distract me. I _hate_ it."

"You hate me visiting other dimensions or you hate me visiting Usagi?"

"Yes."

"He said he has something he wants to discuss with me."

"What's wrong with that inter-dimension phone Donnie made?"

Leo shrugged. "I think he wants me to meet someone. But he wouldn't give me any more details."

"Are you sure today is a good day to go? You know we have Don's thing tonight."

"I'll probably be back before you're even home from work."

Raph made a noncommittal noise in his throat. There was no good reason for Leo to not go. And unfortunately, no good reason for him to miss work and go with him. He stood up and walked over to where Leo sat so he could kiss him goodbye.

"Just be safe," he said. "Don't let anyone get their hands on you."

He could feel Leo smirk at his back as he left the kitchen and headed for his shellcycle. Within moments he was speeding around others who were probably also rushing off to work before he pulled into Hamato-Jones Garage.

After April had graduated from college with her business degree two years ago, and after she and Casey had gotten married in a small wedding out at the farmhouse, she and Casey had approached Raphael to see if he'd be interested in working with them to open the garage. April ran the front office, the only place customers were allowed, while Casey and Raphael worked on the vehicles brought in for repair and maintenance. It was something they all enjoyed doing and aside from answering the phone from time to time, there was no need for Raphael to interact with the customers.

They'd scraped along for the first few months. But after April's bid for the city's bus system was accepted, they had almost more work than they could handle. Which posed a problem in that they couldn't hire any more workers unless Raphael wanted to take a midnight shift out of sight, which he blatantly did not want to do since he refused to give up sleeping with Leo at night, or unless he was going to quit altogether. April and Casey also didn't want him to do either option. It had been hard enough to convince him to come on board in the first place. They even sweetened the deal by offering to let his name go first in the name of the garage.

So they all worked hard to keep up with the work. One more reason Raphael was pulling out tools and getting to work on his first vehicle of the day instead of heading to another dimension with his mate. He growled a little and shook his head. Stupid rabbit.

He didn't get paid as much as the other two. Mainly because he hadn't put down any cash to start the business the way they had. But he did get a paycheck and was proud to be the first of the brothers to ever accomplish such a thing. Plus he didn't really care what he was paid. They didn't need the money for housing or utilities the way April and Casey needed it. He saved some of it and it came in handy to leave behind when they went midnight "grocery shopping". And he found it pretty easy to spend when it was someone's birthday. Like when he bought Donnie the upgraded centrifuge Sadie had said he'd been eyeing. Donnie had loved it. Like little kid in a candy store loved it. Raph glanced into the corner of the garage where Mikey's upcoming birthday present sat. Woody had approached him and asked if he would secretly help him get it ready. He was pretty sure his little brother was going to go ballistic over it.

Raph growled again. Speaking of his brothers, it was too bad they weren't free to go with Leo today either. It wasn't just the Usagi part. Visiting another dimension meant Leo's T-phone wouldn't work. It didn't feel right that he would go somewhere without any brothers to watch his back and without the ability to call for help if he needed it.

"Its 9 am and that's yer fifth growl of the morning," Casey called over to him from where he was working under a bus.

Raph huffed out a breath before saying, "Leo's going to visit the bunny today."

"Ah," Casey said. "So yer upset about the bunny or cause he'll be in another dimension?"

"Yes," Raph said.

"Yer just upset cause his T-phone wont work," Casey said, laughing as he pulled himself out from under the bus. "I've heard some of those phone conversations you two have during yer lunch break."

Raph growled at him. "Those are private."

"Oh hell yes they're private," Casey said, grabbing another tool and scooting back under the bus. "Don't worry, I always back away quickly. You know how pure and innocent my mind is. I'd like to keep it that way."

Raph threw a wrench in his direction. It missed Casey by a good few feet on purpose but still felt satisfying.

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Leo asked, staring at his Samurai friend. He wondered for a moment if he had somehow ended up in the wrong dimension. Maybe this dimension had a Usagi who would say crazy things.

"I want you to train some of my nieces and nephews in the art of ninjitsu," Usagi repeated, placing his tea cup back down on the table at the coffee shop where they sat. He knew sitting out in the open always made Leonardo nervous, even though this dimension was one full of talking animals and zero humans to speak of, so he had chosen a table inside away from the windows. He _had_ hoped in the past that he could talk Leonardo into visiting him more often so he that he would perhaps become more comfortable in this dimension and would consider it for a permanent home.

He pushed that thought out of his mind.

He tilted his head and eyed Leonardo, wondering if he was truly as shocked as his expression said he was.

"Why aren't you teaching your nieces and nephews Bujutsu?" Leo asked. "You don't care for ninjitsu. And that's putting it mildly."

"I don't care for the guerilla warfare engaged in by the typical ninja," Usagi said, making a face of disgust. "But you and your brothers were taught ninjitsu by Master Splinter with a code of honor and respect for the craft. Plus, you are already experienced at leading others through training. Why not try it with some beginners?"

"When you say beginners," Leo said, his eyes leaving Usagi for a moment to eye the newcomers in the coffee shop who went right to the counter to place an order.

"They are young," Usagi said, trying to hide a smile. "And I have already begun their training in Bujutsu."

Leo's eyes returned to Usagi. "So why ninjitsu?"

"I would like it if they could learn as much as they can about fighting with honor from someone who happens to _also_ be the best swordsman I know," Usagi said, noting that Leonardo ducked his face at the compliment. "Eventually I will have to choose one of these little rabbits to intensively train as a future partner, or more likely, as someone from my family as my replacement. I could use your help in evaluating them to determine which one would be best suited for it."

Usagi watched Leonardo consider it.

"Perhaps if you met them, it would help you decide," Usagi said. "If you would like, we can go meet them right now."

* * *

Raphael pulled back into his own garage and immediately headed inside. He waved to Mikey and Woody, who were busy in the kitchen preparing food for tonight, and headed to the dojo. He found Leo meditating on his tatami mat and seated himself quietly in front of him. He let his eyes wander over Leo's face, his neck, his shoulders, down his arms to his fingers, across the muscles in his legs. He knew Leo knew he was there and he was willing to wait patiently. Leo had sent him a text earlier to say he was home from Usagi's dimension but Raph was still relieved to see him sitting in the lair.

When Leo finally opened his eyes a few minutes later he smiled at Raphael and immediately leaned forward to kiss him.

"Yer ass is lucky yer home on time," Raph said into his mouth.

Leo smirked at him.

Raph leaned back. "What'd the bunny want?"

Leo took a deep breath. "He wants my help in choosing his family successor among his nieces and nephews by teaching them ninjitsu."

Raph blinked again. Leo had all kinds of surprising things to say today.

"He hates ninjas."

"He doesn't hate us or our style of fighting."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Well," Leo said, "I met them and they're very young. But it might be nice to teach someone from the beginning. Like Master Splinter did with us." Leo shrugged.

Raph could see what Leo wasn't saying. The idea of teaching new, real students who weren't his already-trained brothers was exciting him.

"So you said yes?" Raph asked, smirking at him.

Leo shrugged again. His blue eyes lifted to Raph's face. "What do you think of the idea?"

Raph remembered how supportive Leo had been when he first brought up working at the garage with April and Casey. He wanted to return the favor, but wasn't willing to ignore the bad feeling he had about Leo's safety.

"I don't like the idea of you going back and forth to the other dimension."

"They'd come to our dojo. It just makes more sense with all the equipment we have here. Usagi said he'd bring them back and forth."

Raph nodded and leaned back into Leo to kiss him. He stopped right before he reached Leo's lips. "Master Leonardo," he whispered.

Leo grinned and kissed him back before pulling back to say, "I might need you to say that a few more times."

"Don't push yer luck."

* * *

Donatello had finished his PhD program in two years instead of four. Donnie sat fidgeting in the cap and gown Sadie had made him wear surrounded by the rest of the Hamato clan. They were gathered around the large TV in the living room munching on the snacks that Woody and Mikey had prepared.

He didn't see the point in wearing the cap and gown, especially with the tassels tickling his face, since they were only watching a live feed of his graduation. But Sadie said it added an element of ceremony. So he wore it.

"Explain to me again how you were able to get through graduate school and never be seen in person?" Casey asked.

"His work was so brilliant that they hardly cared," Sadie said, grinning up at him.

"And I may have convinced them that I have such a low immune system that I couldn't possibly ever leave my house," Donnie said, moving the tassels out of his face for the eleventh time.

"Like bubble boy?" Mikey asked.

"Yes, Mikey. Like bubble boy."

"Quiet, quiet," Master Splinter said. "Here it comes."

They all quieted down and listened until they heard what they'd been waiting for – "Donatello Hamato."

The group cheered and whooped as a whole. Leo leaned in from behind the couch and squeezed Don's shoulder while Sadie leaned over and kissed him and Mikey pulled the cap off his head and threw it in the air for him. Master Splinter sat back and smiled after hearing his son's name – his family's name – acknowledged in such a way. It was a similar pride to when Raphael had brought him out to see the Hamato name on the sign of his new workplace.

"We are all very proud of you," Master Splinter said. "We always have been, but doing something like this, when you had more adversity than the average student, and excelling at it, took great courage and dedication. Well done, Donatello."

Donnie ducked his head and flushed at the compliment. He smiled down at his hands before standing up a little awkwardly. "Well, I'd – I'd just like to say thank you, sensei. And thank you Sadie for signing me up for my first online classes in the first place," he grinned down at her. "And thank you guys," he made eye contact with each of his brothers and friends around the room, "for encouraging me through this process. This started as a way to get some of my inventions to the general population and it's become a little bit more involved than that. But it's definitely all been worth it. So thanks."

"You're welcome, Dr. D!" Mikey chirped. "Now let's eat!" Mikey took off for the kitchen, eager to help Donnie out by taking the attention off of him. "Woody and I cooked special celebration dinner!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Donnie's been out of the lair during the day a lot lately," Leo said in a low voice to Raph as he watched Donnie enter their home hand in hand with Sadie.

The two turtles sat slumped together on the couch watching a movie, currently doing their best to pretend they didn't know Mikey was pouting in the kitchen.

"Did you ask him what he's been doin?"

"I figured he'd tell us if he wanted us to know," Leo said. He felt a shiver run through him listening to Raph's husky, equally low tone.

"What were you guys up to today, Don?" Raph called out. He listened to Leo's silent huff next to him.

Don looked flustered for a second before glancing down at Sadie. He recovered quickly and managed to throw what he hoped was a convincing shoulder shrug towards his brothers.

"Sadie and I have been enjoying summer break," Don said.

"Doin what?" Raph asked.

Donnie raised an eye ridge at Raph and wrapped an arm around Sadie's shoulders. "Do you _really_ want to know?"

Raph narrowed his eyes at Donnie. "Never mind," he muttered.

Leo's phone buzzed and he pulled it out to read the text from Woody: _Is Mike upset_?

Leo sent a quick text back: _He's been banging pots and pans around the kitchen while sighing heavily for about 45 minutes._

Leo's phone buzzed again: _Perfect. I'm ready when you are._

He looked to the rest of the group who were waiting for a sign from him and nodded.

Leo stood to strap on his katana. "Let's go, Mikey!" he called out. "Patrol time."

Sadie kissed Donnie before plopping down on the couch and caught the remote as Raph tossed it to her. The three brothers went to the entrance of the lair and waited as Mikey trudged out of the kitchen and headed towards them. They turned and headed into the tunnels before he even reached them so that they could purposely avoid looking at his sullen face.

They were topside before Leo finally asked, "Something wrong today, Mikey?"

The three older brothers continued to walk but turned to look at the straggling, sighing turtle.

"Something WRONG?!" he yelled back at his brother. "Today?! Have you all actually forgotten what today is?! It. Is. My. BIRTHDAY! You actually forgot?! Oh and – AND Woody is working! Didn't even take off! Hasn't mentioned it all day either!"

The three older brothers did their best to look shocked. And contrite. And not at all like they had been waiting for this tantrum all day. At this point they were just happy that this had distracted Mikey enough that he didn't seem to notice that they were still street-level and walking down by the deserted docks.

"Ya hungry, Mike?" Raph asked.

Mikey froze in the middle of what he was about to say next. "Are you even listening to me?!"

"There's a food truck over there," Raph said, nodding his head in the direction of a large green food truck. "Want to get some food?"

"Great. Sure, Raph," Mikey said, stomping towards the truck as he yelled sarcastically over his shoulder. "Let's get some food. That will make this whole day better!"

The order window in the very rear of the truck slid open and Woody appeared.

"What can I get you?" Woody asked with a straight face.

Mikey froze in his tracks and stared at his blonde human.

"What are you doing in there?"

"I'm testing out your birthday present."

"My what?"

Woody grinned at him. He thought Mike's blue eyes were pretty big on a normal day. He'd never seen them this wide before. He nodded his head over to the truck's back door.

Mikey suddenly remembered how to move his limbs and when he whipped the truck's back door open he was surprised to not only find Woody inside but Sadie and Master Splinter as well. He quickly glanced back at his three big brothers behind him and found them all grinning at him. Master Splinter and Sadie quickly exited the truck, leaving Woody to stand in the doorway.

"You guys were PRETENDING – this is so – so-," Mikey sputtered as he stared at the truck. He pulled Woody out of the door of the truck into a big hug before spinning around so he could hug everyone else as well while he continued to randomly shout out nonsensical words. He hugged Woody again as he felt his heart threaten to beat its way out of his plastron. "We – we talked about how cool it would be to have a food truck," he said to Woody. "Can we –can we really do this?"

"Well," Woody said, "once I found a suitable food truck, Raphael helped me make some modifications. Come see what we did."

Mikey didn't need to be told twice. He hopped into the truck and bounced on the balls of his feet as Woody showed him that the order window and the actual kitchen was separated by a Raphael-constructed wall that had a door so Woody could get back there and a pass-through window that was so high no one would be able to see Mike at work in the kitchen.

"You did good, Raph," Leo murmured over to him as they stood shoulder to shoulder, watching their baby brother explore the inside of his truck.

"Thanks, babe."

"Still _no_ ," Leo growled back. He listened to Raph's low rumbling laugh. After a moment he asked, "Do you still think this is a good idea? Mike out cooking food for people during the day every day?"

Raph had already had this conversation with Leo more than once since they had known about the birthday surprise for quite some time.

"No one will see him," Raph answered back. He knew the script by now. "He'll be doin somethin he loves all day. Somethin that keeps him from bein bored. And he'll be earnin some money."

Leo sighed as he nodded. All true statements. The whole thing still made his chest feel tight.

Mikey hopped out of the truck and stared at his waiting family.

"What do you think, Michelangelo?" Master Splinter asked.

Mikey grinned. "Booyakashaaa," he whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

Raphael parked his motorcycle and then headed into the main room of the lair. Since Don had been spending more time out of the lair working on some secret project and Mikey and Woody had taken to the streets during the lunch and dinner time hours with their food truck, their home was usually pretty quiet when he arrived home from work each night.

Of course, that was not the case today.

Raph headed to the dojo and leaned a shoulder against the doorway and tried to hide a smile as he watched Leo try to teach five little active bunnies a simple kata. Raph immediately pictured five little Michelangelos as the little bunnies zipped from one move to the next, no doubt driving Leo crazy with their sloppy forms.

An actual chuckle escaped him as he watched two of the bunnies begin wrestling each other to the ground. Leo walked over to them and picked them both up by the scruffs of their necks to separate them as they continued to try to fight. Leo set them down far apart from each other before he kneeled down to the little bunnies' level and leaned in to whisper something to all of them as they gathered around him.

Raphael's eyes suddenly widened as he realized all five bunnies were suddenly charging in his direction. He turned but he wasn't fast enough and was quickly tripped and knocked to the ground where he was immediately covered in tiny hopping bodies.

"Mr. Raphael!"

"Did you see my kata!"

"Mine was better!"

"How could yours be better? You weren't even paying attention to Master Leonardo!"

Raph sat himself up, tumbling some of the bunnies to the ground. He wouldn't tell them, especially since they'd been coming to train under Leo for almost six months already, but he still couldn't tell any of the white furry creatures apart. He looked up and shot Leo a glare for sending the bunnies over to attack him and received only a smirk in return.

Raph scooped up as many bunnies as he could manage as he stood and carried them back into the dojo.

"Lets all bow to Master Leonardo since yer lesson is clearly over," Raphael said, smirking as he bowed forward to his mate as five little bunnies quickly followed suit.

He watched as two of the bunnies began wrestling each other to the ground again. "Is that what you've been teachin em?"

"They're impossible," Leo said back in a low tone so that only Raphael could hear him. He hoped anyway, the little students did have larger than average ears.

Raph laughed and reached over to slide his hand from Leo's shoulder, down his arm and then squeezed his hand. "I'm going to clean up. I'll see you after the furballs are gone."

Leo stared after Raph as he left the dojo. It was amazing that Raph could come home covered in grease and motor oil after working in the garage all day and yet Leo still only smelled Raph's scent and nothing else.

When Usagi arrived to pick up his tiny family members, Leo did his best to keep the smirk off his face as he discussed their progress. It didn't matter - Usagi was able to read between the lines of what Leo was saying. He sighed inwardly and wished he was making faster progress than Leonardo, but in truth he was not. They would have to wait for the bunnies to mature a little more before they could really begin focusing their attention on which one might have the best potential.

Leo said goodbye to Usagi and his little students, checked on his father who was deep in meditation and then headed to the showers, where he was warmly welcomed by Raphael and his clever fingers.

* * *

 

"So he gave you _sewer_ coordinates for where we're supposed to meet him?"

Leo nodded. "Mikey said Donnie sent him the same message."

Master Splinter climbed into the Shellraiser and Raph pulled the large vehicle out of the garage and began down the tunnel.

"So you think Don's finally gonna show us what he's been up to all this time?"

"Hopefully," Leo said. "I didn't press him on this but I also didn't think he'd keep his secret for so many months."

"If he hasn't been working on it at the lair, it must be huge, right?" Raph said, making a turn to follow Leo's directions. "Maybe it's a new sub. Or maybe he's created an even bigger Turtle Mech. Maybe he's snapped into crazy scientist mode and he's plannin on takin over the city."

Leo huffed out a laugh and Master Splinter, sitting silently in the back, couldn't help but smile at Raphael's suggestions.

They turned a few more times before they came upon the rest of their clan members, including Casey and April, standing in the tunnel, waiting on them.

"They're _finally_ here," Mikey was saying as Leo, Raph and Master Splinter climbed out of the Shellraiser. "You've gotta tell us what you've been doing, D."

Everyone looked to Donnie and he grinned at them and rubbed the back of his neck.

Leo tilted his head, wondering what Donnie would be nervous about. He rubbed his hands together and huddled further into his jacket. It was the end of November and he hated standing around in the cold of the sewers. Raph noted the movement and looped his warm arm around him to share some heat.

"Well, ok, yes, I have been keeping a fairly large secret from you guys and I thought it'd be easier to just show you. So - follow me." Donatello turned and pressed a button on the sewer wall that no one had previously noted. Part of the sewer wall began to slide to the side.

"A secret door," Mikey whispered, eyes wide.

"It's a secret elevator," April said.

The clan followed Donnie and Sadie into the large elevator watched him push the button for the 2nd floor.

"There's no button for the 1st floor," Woody said.

"Elevator doesn't stop on the 1st floor," Sadie said. "It only goes to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and back down to the sewers."

A few members of the group exchanged glances but didn't say anything. They'd just wait for Donnie to eventually explain.

When they reached the 2nd floor they were shocked to exit into a brightly lit, window-covered, fully-functioning laboratory. Leo halted, causing Raph and Mikey to run into the back of him.

"Keep walking, Leo," Donnie said, smiling at him. "It's safe here. Its _mine_."

Leo eyed his tall brother warily and continued to scan the inside of the laboratory, moving forward only when Raph nudged him from behind.

"I had them install one-way windows so we can see out and sunlight will come in but no one outside can see in. On this floor or the 2 floors above us," Don said, trying to reassure Leonardo, as well as Master Splinter who looked equally nervous. He had expected the trepidation, which is partly why he had decided not to tell them anything until the whole project was finished. He thought it would be easier to show them the new lab location once it was up and running.

Donnie moved slowly through the lab, waiting for his family members who finally decided to follow. He had several lab counters, most of which didn't even have equipment or paperwork spread across them. Sadie kept teasing him about trying to use more of the space instead of cramming it all on one lab table. He was sure, eventually, that he would.

"So you bought a floor in a building to have a larger lab? And who is them?" Leo asked. "Who did you have fix the windows?"

"Well let me start at the beginning," Donnie said, raising his hands in the air before more questions popped up. "Right before my graduation, I patented my radiation exposure tool and was then approached by the government – online communication only –," he shot a look to Leo before he could protest, "and they paid me for the blueprints so they could use it to treat people."

"That's wonderful news, Donatello," Master Splinter said. "That was your main goal for attending school."

"Right, right," Donnie said, grinning at them. "And I didn't just buy this floor. I bought this whole building." He continued as he saw the shock on their faces. "And with Sadie's help, we had construction workers come in and fix this place up to my unique specifications, such as the windows and the elevator."

"You don't have elevator access on the 1st floor," Leo said.

Donnie rubbed the back of his neck again. "Well, you can get down there by the stairs, and when you're on the first floor you'd need a special code to get into the stair well. Eventually the first floor will be turned into another lab space where I'm hoping to eventually hire additional people to help produce tech for my new company."

Master Splinter sat down in a lab chair. Donatello obviously had more surprises in store for them, and he felt an overwhelming need to sit.

"Company?" Raph asked. He'd moved over to the windows and was warily peeking out of them.

"Hamato Engineering," Donnie said, giving a slight shrug. "I'm going to keep going with my inventions and patent the good ones. Sadie is fully on board and will work here with me and also serve as the "face" for the business."

He paused to let that sink in and his eyes moved from one family member to the next. He wasn't sure Mikey or Casey understood exactly what he meant by all this – hell he wasn't even sure they were still listening judging by the way they were currently elbowing each other. Woody was speaking in a low, but excited tone to Sadie. Master Splinter was actually sitting, which Donnie would admit made him slightly nervous. Raph had his shell to him but he was now easily moving around the windows, probably enjoying the waterfront views. April looked – well April looked proud of him and for that he was grateful. That made at least one family member because Leo still looked slightly stricken. Donnie wasn't exactly the first brother to travel topside to work – even Mikey was working a real job outside the lair now. So he wasn't sure why Leo still looked so upset after Don had even blatantly pointed out some of the safety features of the building. And he hadn't even started telling them about the advanced security system yet. Wait till Mikey saw the retinal scan he has planned for the elevator.

"So, are you ready for moooore?" Donnie asked, trying to hide his smile.

"More!?" Mikey said, bouncing away from Casey and towards Donatello.

"Jeezus," Leo said, resting his elbows on a lab table in front of him. What more could Donatello show them?

Donnie headed back to the elevator, nodded his head into the empty car and waited till everyone was inside before hitting the button for the 4th floor.

When they exited the elevator again they were in a hallway with three doors. Donnie walked over to the door on the right and opened it, letting his family walk in before him. They entered a fully-furnished apartment. Mikey quickly went from room to room, checking out the eat-in kitchen, office and two bedrooms off the main living room.

"My son," Master Splinter said, eyeing a framed photo of Donnie and Sadie together sitting up on a bookshelf. "You're moving out?"

"Well," Donnie said. "Yes. But we had the 3 apartments on this floor and the 3 apartments on the 3rd floor renovated and furnished. I want _everyone_ to move out. I want everyone to move in here. Including you and Casey," he said to April. "Rent free. We'd all be together in a very safe, well-heated," he looked to Master Splinter and then Leo, "up-to-date building."

It took only a few seconds for the majority of the group to get excited. But Raphael watched Leo sink into the couch, looking anything but.


	5. Chapter 5

Leo startled awake and froze. He held his breath and listened. He could hear Raph breathing next to him and some water dripping somewhere. He wasn't sure what had woken him but he felt uneasy. He rolled from his side to his shell, closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Almost twenty minutes passed and he was still awake and still feeling uneasy. He rolled off his shell and back onto his side so he could look at Raphael splayed out on his shell next to him. Raph's face was relaxed in sleep and the arm not wrapped around Leo's shoulders was resting on his own plastron.

Leo smiled to himself as he got an idea on how to tire himself out. He moved away from Raph's arm without waking him and moved down the bed so he could begin lightly sliding his tongue up and down Raph's slit, suddenly determined to see how long he could continue without actually waking up Raphael.

Leo watched as Raph's body seemed to twitch slightly. His legs spread apart, granting Leo more room to sit between them. Leo listened as his mate's breathing quickly changed and his head shifted from one side to the other. A bulge was beginning to form in Raph's lower plastron.

"Are you havin fun without me?" Raph's husky, sleep-filled voice suddenly asked.

Leo pulled his tongue away for a moment in order to respond, "I'm having fun _with_ you." His tongue pushed into Raph's slit and he was immediately rewarded with Raph's deep rumbling groan as he dropped down. Leo immediately wrapped his mouth around Raphael and moaned in triumph since he finally got what he'd been after.

"Fuckin hell, Leo," Raph moaned out, lifting his hips towards Leo's mouth. He felt himself slide down Leo's throat and felt more than heard Leo's churr. His head flew back and he responded with his own churr.

Leo quickly wet his finger before his mouth went back to work on Raphael. He moved his finger to Raph's entrance and began sliding it into the warm tunnel. Raph's hips bucked when a second finger was introduced and Leo hit his prostate almost immediately. Leo repeated the action several times and listened to Raphael's loud moans as his hands held Leo's shoulders in a tight grip.

"Leo," Raph managed to whimper and Leo responded by pressing Raphael to the roof of his mouth and releasing a deep churr while hitting his prostate again, allowing Raph to finally reach his breaking point with a strangled groan.

Leo moved his way up Raphael's panting body so he could reach into the bedside table and pull out their lube. He covered himself hastily before quickly sliding himself into Raphael. He groaned as he felt the warm muscles pulling him in. He watched as Raph's eyes squeezed shut as his hands scrambled up to clutch at Leo's upper arms and shoulders.

"Raph," he huffed out and waited for those gorgeous green eyes to open. He stared into them and took in the blown pupils before leaning down to claim Raph's mouth with his own. Raph pushed his tongue into Leo's mouth and moved a hand to grip the back of Leo's neck to keep him in place.

Raph twisted his tongue around Leo's and groaned into his mouth as Leo thrust into him repeatedly. Despite their current activity, Raph could feel the tension in Leonardo. He moved his hands to Leo's arms and massaged them before moving to what he could reach of Leo's thighs, doing the best he could, given the constant movement, to provide relief to the tight leg muscles. Finally, he felt Leo give into the massages and relax.

Leo moved his face into Raph's neck, huffing in Raph's scent which only spurred him on to increase his speed. His movements became frantic and he felt Raph spasm as his prostate was being repeatedly hit. He reached down with a free hand and smiled into Raph's neck as he realized Raph was going to require attention for a second time that night. He began stroking Raphael quickly and could only bite into his neck to stifle a moan as they both finished.

He collapsed himself fully on top of Raphael and listened to their combined panting for a few minutes.

"You know Mikey makes fun of me for these bite marks you keep leavin on my neck," Raph huffed out.

"Sorry," Leo said in an exhale, his breath blowing onto Raph's neck.

"Don't be. I kind of like walking around with yer mark on me."

Leo rolled to the side and pulled Raph with him.

"You never bite me," Leo said, his breath still uneven.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Does it hurt when I bite you?"

"I like it."

Leo huffed out a laugh.

"Not that I'm complaining," Raph said, thinking back to the earlier tension he'd felt in Leo, "but what were you doin awake?"

"Just couldn't go back to sleep."

Raph leaned forward and began kissing Leo again. He moved a hand to the side of Leo's face and let it rest there. Leo moved his body even closer to Raph's and Raph could feel Leo's body relax against him.

"Try again," Raph whispered over to him, feeling sleep pulling at him. Leo hummed in response and Raph waited until Leo's breathing evened out before he fell back to sleep as well.

* * *

"I'm bored," Mikey said, peering over the edge of the rooftop where the four brothers were perched. He attempted to make shapes into the cold January air with each exhale of his breath.

"This has been an extensively long run of quiet patrols," Donnie said.

Leo nodded in agreement. In the last few weeks they'd even moved to different parts of the city and were still met with stillness. Two nights ago Raphael had broken up a drug deal and was so thrilled with the activity that Mikey had eventually poked him and pointed out that it was just two guys, not a fleet of Foot ninja.

Leo called it a night and the four took off across the rooftops towards the Hamato Engineering building. Since they'd barely used any energy all night, they spent the trip back sprinting and flipping over each other.

Donnie felt a certain amount of pride landing on the top of his own building. He stood back and let Mikey run the retinal scan to open the rooftop door – one of the top five coolest things Donnie had apparently ever made - and they took the stairs down to the 4th floor where he quickly said goodnight to his brothers before ducking into his and Sadie's apartment.

Leo watched him go before heading to knock on the door of their father's apartment. He knew Master Splinter would still be awake and that he appreciated the nighttime knock as his sons' way of letting him know they had safely returned from patrols. Then Leo and Raph followed Mikey downstairs to the 3rd floor and said goodnight to him as well as he headed into the apartment he shared with Woody.

Raph walked over to April and Casey's door and gave it a knock as well, again as a courtesy to let them know they had all returned. He was surprised when the door immediately popped open and April ushered the two inside to the kitchen where mugs of hot chocolate were waiting for them.

Leo smiled appreciatively at April as he sat at the island and wrapped his freezing hands around the mug. He watched Raph grab his own mug and head into the living room to check the score of the football game Casey was watching.

"I thought you'd be cold," April said, sipping from her mug. "I certainly don't miss running patrols with you guys in the winter."

"There was nothing going on again," Leo said, sullenly.

"You're supposed to be happy when you say that sort of thing," April said, raising an eyebrow at him. She eyed her blue-clad friend for a few moments. "You're still upset about all these changes aren't you?"

"I'm not upset," Leo said, trying to place the feeling that had kept his chest tight for so many months now.

"Ok, you're not upset," April said, tilting her head to consider him. "You're anxious."

Leo lifted his eyes to her. "Anxious?" He said it as a question but he knew immediately that she was correct. It was ingrained in his training to never relax. Ever.

What was wrong with him that he couldn't embrace these new changes the way the others had? Even Master Splinter hadn't hesitated to move into the apartment Donnie offered him. Although, if Leo thought about it, he could see the appeal from his father's point of view. He had been living with his four _loud_ sons for the past twenty-four years in a freezing cold sewer. No doubt Master Splinter was enjoying the quiet. And the constant heat. And the uninterrupted television viewing. Donnie had even arranged a grocery service who took their orders online, billed his account and delivered the food to the first floor whenever they wanted. Master Splinter was in cheese-eating heaven.

So why was it that Leo preferred life the other way? He'd admit that although he didn't want anyone hurt, he preferred _busy_ patrols. He'd prefer it if everyone's _only_ job was to be a ninja. He even missed having a difficult time meditating because it was hard to block out the sounds of his brothers fighting over whose turn it was to choose what they watched on TV.

Donnie had even balked when Leo asked him to convert the third unused 4th floor apartment into a dojo. Even if his brothers all had "second" jobs, he still insisted on morning practice during the week. Honestly, Leo had been surprised Donnie hadn't included a dojo in his original plans for the blueprints. And in the end, Leo was pretty sure Sadie had eventually talked Donnie into the dojo construction. No doubt she pointed out to him that it would be more time efficient for him if he didn't have to travel all the way down to the lair and back every day for practice.

"Maybe this is your _reward_ , Leo," April said, breaking into his thoughts. "Living happily with Raph. Quiet patrols. Each of you able to branch out of the world you were raised in to try doing something you really enjoy. You _saved_ New York City, Leo. You saved the lives of millions of people from _aliens_. And then got rid of _how many_ bad guys after that? Maybe its time to relax and enjoy this part of your lives now."

Leo nodded back to her because it was the appropriate response. He didn't _disagree_ with her. But he wasn't ready to fully agree with her either.

He looked in Raph's direction and his green-eyed mate immediately took his eyes away from the football game and returned his gaze. Raph stood, punched Casey in the shoulder and made his way into the kitchen to put his mug in the sink. They thanked April for the hot chocolate and said goodnight before heading back into the hallway.

Leo paused in the hall and eyed the 3rd floor's final apartment door.

"You want to try it out?" Raph asked.

"Do you want to?" Leo asked, turning to Raph, eyeing him to determine if he really did want to head into the apartment that had been deemed theirs.

"I want to be where you are," Raph said.

Leo looked at the door one more time before turning away. He clasped Raph's hand and headed towards the elevator. "Then let's go home."


	6. Chapter 6

Leo slowly opened his eyes. He hadn't managed to meditate at all and from what he could sense, only one of his little rabbit students had even gotten close. The other four were completely asleep. Sitting upright in lotus position, but asleep.

He'd asked Usagi to bring them over before breakfast for today's lesson. He'd always found it easier to meditate first thing in the morning and since his last meditation lesson with them had ended in a complete disaster that included whining, dramatic sighing and domino bunnies as they took turns to see how many of their siblings they could knock down every five minutes, Leo thought he'd try them out in the early morning hours.

For now, he smiled gratefully at the one bunny actually trying to meditate and decided to appreciate the quiet of the other four. He slowly got up and headed out to the kitchen where Usagi handed him a mug of tea as he sat across from his friend at the table.

"Success?" Usagi asked, hiding a knowing smile behind his own mug.

"Most are asleep. One is actually trying."

"Which one?"

Leo lowered his eyes to his tea mug again.

"You can not tell them apart."

It wasn't a question.

"Maybe they could each wear a color assigned to them –,"

"They are not wearing masks."

"I didn't say _masks_. They could wrap them around their ears. Or their ankles."

Usagi laughed and then watched as a real smile reach Leonardo's face as well.

"I haven't seen you smile in a few weeks, my friend," Usagi said to him.

Leo ducked his eyes again and chewed on his bottom lip. Usagi thought it was a nervous habit that didn't suit his dear friend.

"I have another request for you," Usagi said. He waited for the blue eyes to lift to his own before he continued. "I have been speaking to friends of mine back home. And although I have done my best to discourage their interest in ninjitsu," he gave Leo a wry smile, "they have become very interested in my private ninja tutor and have asked if you would consider opening lessons up to their children as well."

Leo stared at him a moment before blinking. He tried to gauge his immediate gut reaction. Despite their remarkably fast ability to drive him insane, he was enjoying the chance to teach his current little students. But he also had his and his brothers' training to think of as well. And he immediately wondered what Raphael would think of adding on training for additional students.

Usagi sat and watched Leonardo's internal struggle make its way across his friend's face. He reached his paw across the table and rested it on top of one of Leonardo's hands.

"Leonardo, forgive me for saying this, but you have not seemed like yourself for several months now. Perhaps a change like this would be exactly what you need to lift your spirits." He pulled his paw away as Raphael walked into the kitchen, although he still caught a glare from the red-clad turtle. "I hope that you will think about it," he continued on anyway. "I will go collect our sleeping students and get them home for breakfast."

Raphael went to the cupboard and angrily pulled down a bowl for his cereal. He poured the cereal and the milk and listened as Usagi and five suddenly noisy little bunnies left the lair. He was suddenly so angry that he didn't even care what the samurai was doing in their kitchen first thing in the morning. He sat down in the seat next to Leo, and scowled into his cereal. He felt one of Leo's hands slide up and down his arm in a greeting and tensed.

Leo glanced over at him and was immediately taken by surprise by Raph's scowling face. "Are you alright?" he asked, scanning Raph over for any obvious signs of trouble.

"Oh yeah," Raph said, sarcastically. "I love seeing my mate pawed by his stupid rabbit friend first thing in the morning." He watched as honest confusion clouded Leo's eyes.

"Usagi?"

"Yes, Usagi. He had his damn hand on yers when I came into the kitchen." He watched as Leo looked down at his own hand as if the rabbit's paw would still be there for him to see.

"Did he leave?"

Raph stared hard at him. "Dammit, Leo. Yer a ninja for fuck's sake. You didn't notice him touchin you or his leaving?"

Leo sat back in his chair to put a little space between them. "I don't see why you're so upset."

Raph dropped his spoon in his untouched cereal and stood. "No, of course you don't. Because you haven't been _seein_ anythin for months. Yer not actin like yerself."

Leo wrapped his hands around his mug and felt it begin to warm up his fingers. "Usagi just said the same thing. He has another proposition for me."

"Fuckin great. Let the goddamn rabbit help you," Raphael said in a growl as he tossed his cereal bowl in the sink and heard a crack. Awesome. His favorite bowl.

Raph stomped out of the kitchen and headed towards the garage. He was trying to zip up his jacket when he realized Leo had followed him.

"Why are you so angry with me?" Leo asked as he watched Raph fight with the leather jacket's zipper. He stepped forward after a few moments and brushed aside the emerald hands before swiftly zippering it for him. He raised his eyes in triumph to Raph's face only to be met by a green-eyed glower. "Raph, I'm sorry I didn't notice my friend _touching my hand_ , but I'm sure it was only meant for comfort."

Raph's eyes narrowed even more at Leo. He snapped his helmet on his head and quickly got on his bike. "I'm going to be late for work," was all he said as he started the loud engine of the motorcycle. His anger held strong even as he watched the look of disappointment cross Leo's face as he pulled away.


	7. Chapter 7

Raphael got right to work when he reached the garage. Although he did realize he was growling excessively and stomping around to collect tools, he blatantly ignored Casey's and April's concerned looks.

After a few hours of grumbling to himself while he worked, Raphael remembered _why_ Usagi was in their lair first thing that morning. Leo had cancelled their clan's own Monday morning training, and even turned off Raph's alarm and let him sleep in, so that he could try early morning meditation with the bunnies – something Raphael had wanted to hear about because he figured it would turn out hilarious. But apparently, he thought to himself, instead of asking Leo how the morning had gone, he had decided to attack Leo because of Usagi's inappropriate touching.

He knew some of his Usagi anger was justified. But he realized he should've focused it on Usagi and not Leo. Because although he was certain Leo didn't harbor any feelings towards Usagi, Raphael wasn't an idiot when it came to the looks he caught the dumb bunny sending his mate's way.

But that was a separate issue from the main point of his anger that morning. Although he grimaced when he replayed some of the things he had said to Leo, he knew Usagi was just the tipping point for the feelings that had been festering in him for the past couple months. Leo wasn't happy. And it was driving Raphael bat-shit crazy that he couldn't figure out how to fix it. And instead of talking about it with Leo like a grown-up turtle, he'd reverted and let an anger-filled temper tantrum do the talking for him.

He sighed loudly and looked over to Casey who had been happily singing along to a song on the radio.

"Do us all a favor and just go fix it," Casey said to him before he joined in with the chorus of the song again. He watched Raph drop the tools he'd been using and quickly get up and leave. "Yer grumbling is givin me a damn headache," Casey muttered once Raphael was out of earshot.

* * *

Leo leaned his head back against the concrete wall where he sat and stared at the ceiling. He had come to play basketball but found he wasn't in the mood once he'd reached his private court. Now that he was sitting here alone, he wasn't even really sure why he'd left the lair. Since Raph had stormed off for work, he could've just stayed home to sit by himself and stare at a ceiling, considering no one else lived there now.

He thought about that. He wasn't completely upset that everyone else had decided to move out. After all, he and Raph were enjoying having the lair all to themselves. They didn't have little brothers to clean up after. They could spar late into the night, with loud metal weapons if they wanted, without worrying about waking anyone up. Honestly, they could make all kinds of loud noises no matter the hour. And they did. Often.

But he wondered if it was fair to keep forcing Raph to live in the sewers when they had a nice, modern apartment waiting for them. After all, even if they moved into Donnie's building, they'd still live on their own there as well. Leo remembered Raphael's snicker when Donnie had made a point of mentioning that he'd made the new dojo and each apartment completely soundproof.

And Raph wasn't a turtle who could be forced into doing anything he didn't want to do, which meant he was probably being sincere when he told Leo he didn't care where they lived. But Leo still felt anxious about keeping Raph in their current home.

"Yer gonna hurt yerself if you keep thinkin that hard."

Leo snapped his head off the wall and looked up at Raphael. "I didn't hear you coming."

Raphael sighed and sat down in front of Leo. "Yeah, you haven't noticed a lot lately."

"Raph, I'm sorry about Usagi-,"

"No, Leo," Raph leaned forward and placed his hand over one of Leo's hands. "I'm sorry I got angry at you for something that was probably meant to be a friendly gesture." He gritted the words out, reminding himself that Usagi was not the main problem.

Leo eyed Raph. He knew there was more Raph wanted to say about Usagi but he was clearly holding his tongue.

"Look, Leo, it's been several months and I think I've let you sulk long enough."

" _Let_ me sulk?" Leo narrowed his eyes at Raph.

"Don't interrupt," he said, squeezing Leo's hand. "I'm sorry I got so angry with you earlier. It's just – it's my job to keep you happy and its frustrating the living hell out of me that I'm not doing it."

Leo ran his free hand along the curve of Raph's face. "Hamato Raphael, it is not your job to keep me happy."

Raph leaned into Leo's hand before nodding. "Yes it is, Leo. Now I've tried to ask you over and over again what has been bothering you and I want you to answer me this time." He watched Leo sigh and slump down. He leaned in closer to Leo to force Leo to make eye contact with him. "Let me in that head."

Leo kept his eyes on Raph's eyes for a few moments before he finally began to speak. "Raph, we've – we've been trained to dedicate ourselves to ninjitsu since our _mutation_. I've been trained to be a leader and a hero and -," he paused, "and I just don't understand how all of that can be over already. And I don't understand why I'm the only one upset about it."

Raphael tilted his head and eyed his sad mate. "Leo yer still our leader and you'll always be a hero. That will never change." He paused for a moment. "And I know things are different now. A lot different. But Leo, even with all the changes, everyone is still together. Everyone is ok. Everyone is just trying out new things to make us happy."

"Its not that I don't want everyone to be able to do what makes them happy -," Leo said, but whatever he had been about to say was silenced as Raphael's mouth covered his in a kiss.

It was their first of the day but also the first since the fight and Leo was happy to welcome Raph's tongue in his mouth. He gripped the back of Raph's neck possessively and heard a soft moan from his emerald turtle. They remained like that for several minutes until Raphael reluctantly pulled away. It was either that or push Leo down on the concrete floor which would've resulted in a few extra scratch marks on Leo's shell. And as fun as that sounded, he needed to continue making progress with Leo while Leonardo was open to talking.

"Maybe we should fight more often if it means that kind of follow-up," Leo said, loosening his grip on Raph's neck as they rested their foreheads together.

"I don't know. I think that's the kind of thing that's been working as a damn good incentive _not_ to fight with you, Fearless," Raph said, grinning as Leo chuckled at him. "Listen, Leo. You've been carrying around the weight of our entire family forever. And I know you've never complained about it – at least you haven't complained a whole lot – but we're all ok. And I think you should start focusin on what makes you happy as well."

"You?" Leo asked, smirking at Raph.

Raph smirked back at him. "I'll take attention from you all day long." He leaned forward and quickly kissed Leo again before pulling his face back. He moved his hands up Leo's arms and rested them on Leo's shoulders. "But what _else_ could occupy yer time?" He turned serious. "What do you want to do, Leo?"

"First," Leo said, thinking back to earlier. "I want you to answer me honestly."

Raph narrowed his eyes at Leo. "Are you changin the subject?"

"No. Well, not really. Part of what's been bugging me is that I'm forcing you to continue living in the sewers."

Raph shook his head. "Yer not _forcin_ me to live in the sewers. I already told you I want to be where you are. And you aren't ready to leave the lair."

"But you think I will be eventually?" Leo asked, considering Raph's words.

"I think _you_ think if we accept the apartment then that means yer happy about all the changes. And yes, I think, eventually you will be happy about the other changes and we'll move into the apartment."

Leo tilted his head and considered Raphael. "Thank you, Raph."

"For what?"

"For pulling me back out of my own head. Again. How do you do that?"

"It's my job as yer second-in-command," Raph said, smirking as he lifted his chin up and pushed his shoulders back. He lowered his chin again so his green eyes could focus on Leo's face and the smirk fell from his mouth. "Plus, I love you."

He grinned as he watched the dorky smile appear on Leo's face.

"I love you too, Raphie."

"You better," Raph said, nudging him with one of his legs, "I've been lettin you get away with callin me Raphie since we were kids. Now, tell me what we need to do to bring back happy Leo."


	8. Chapter 8

Leonardo moved down the line of his beginner class and smiled at his original five bunny students. Since opening his class to additional students from Usagi's dimension, Leo sensed a level of competitiveness that was previously missing in the little bunnies beforehand. He thought back to the competitiveness he and Raphael had always shared and knew it was probably just what the bunnies needed to push them to concentrate and try harder in class.

"Very nice, Akito," Leo said, watching the small red fox move through their newest kata. Akito consistently tried hard and Leo found himself complimenting him often. It always brought a small shy smile to the fox's face _and_ always pushed the bunnies to work hard to keep up. Win win.

He eyed his other three new students as well and adjusted their forms as needed. He spotted Usagi towards the end of class and quickly wrapped up so he could leave time to review progress for each student with Usagi. At this point, Usagi brought the children back and forth as a large group. Leo had only met their parents once at a meet and greet Usagi had arranged in his own dimension before the first class. The bunnies said fast goodbyes, as did most of the other students, but Leo noticed the little fox holding back.

Leo leaned down to Akito, smiled and raised an eye ridge. Akito took the cue and quickly asked Leo to show him the end of the kata they'd learned that day _one more time_. Leo hid a smile as he ran through the moves with the little fox. He was pretty sure this is what he must have always looked like to Master Splinter when he was a child.

Once Usagi had left, Leo cleaned up the dojo and moved out into the main room to shut off the remaining lights. He took a final quick look around their old home, set the alarm and headed out into the sewer tunnels in the shellraiser. As soon as he'd decided to open his classes to additional students, he had agreed with Raph that they shouldn't live in a place that they'd opened up to strangers. So the two of them had finally joined the rest of the clan in Donnie's building almost three months ago.

He grinned in surprise as he parked under Hamato Engineering when he spotted Raphael's shellcycle already parked over in its own spot. He'd been eager to get home today because he and Raph were leaving to head out to the farmhouse to celebrate their fifth anniversary. But Raphael had so much work to do at the garage that he wasn't supposed to be home until later that night.

He headed into their apartment with a grin on his face hoping Raph would already be ready to go but soon lost the grin when he spotted Raphael lying uncharacteristically on his plastron on their couch.

"Raph?" Leo asked, scanning him over. He appeared to be asleep.

One of Raphael's eyes cracked open at the sound of Leo's voice. "Sick," Raph mumbled.

"You don't get sick," Leo murmured as he reached down and rested a hand on Raphael's forehead. He almost snatched his hand back at how hot the skin was. The one time Leo had ever seen Raphael even remotely sick was when he'd been poisoned by a bite from Fishface. He was famous in their family for his crazy good immune system. Donnie had even joked when they were teens about trying to bottle Raph's immunities so he could sell it to the rest of the family.

He watched as Raph's eyes suddenly popped open and Leo made a quick dash to the bathroom and back with a trash can before Raph started puking. When Raph was finished, Leo emptied the trash can and placed it on the ground next to his shivering, teeth-chattering mate before wetting a washcloth and placing it on the back of Raph's neck. Then he grabbed his T-phone and quickly hit the speed dial for the family doctor.

"Don, Raphael is sick," Leo said as soon as Donnie picked up.

"Sick over the outcome of the wrestling match last night?" Donnie asked slowly, his voice a high-pitched question.

"No, actually sick."

"Raph doesn't get sick."

"I know, but –,"

Donnie pulled the phone away from his ear as Leo began yelling, "The trash can, Raph – no the trash can!"

Donnie's eyes widened and he was glad his eldest brother couldn't see the smile grow on his face.

"Donnie!" Leo yelled back into the phone.

"I'll be there in a minute, Leo," Donnie said. He turned off the machine he'd been using in the lab while quickly telling Sadie where he was heading.

A few moments later Donnie was staring at a thermometer in disbelief.

"Well he doesn't do anything half-assed," Donnie murmured. "I'm going to fill your tub. We've got to get his fever down."

"How long have you been home? Why didn't you call me?" Leo asked as he crouched down in front of Raph. He'd covered him in a blanket to try to keep the shivering down since the constant movement only seemed to upset his stomach even more.

"Siiiiick," Raphael moaned out, looking as though he was trying to tuck himself into his shell as he kept his eyes squeezed shut.

Donnie reappeared and helped Leo sit Raphael up. They draped his arms over their shoulders and began the walk to the bathroom.

"Hurts," Raph grunted, providing almost no assistance as they carried him off to the tub.

"Don?" Leo asked.

"I'm going to say flu," Donnie said. "It's probably a major headache and muscle aches hurting him."

Raph hissed at them as they lowered him into the lukewarm water and despite his weakened state tried to fight with them about staying in the water.

Leo's eyes shot to Donnie and Don could tell that if Leo had been there by himself with Raphael, he would've pulled Raph back out of the water immediately. Don sighed to himself since he was obviously on his own with enforcing the treatment. He turned on his strictest doctor voice and gave his poor sick brother's shoulder a gentle nudge back down into the water.

Raphael scowled at him but could only pull off the face for a moment before he slumped down into the tub and looked pitiful again. Leo untied Raph's bandana and pulled it off. He dipped his hand into the water and then let the water run down the side of Raph's face.

"His skin is usually so warm but this is ridiculous," Leo murmured.

"He just needs to sit in here for a few minutes," Donnie said, looking at the watch on his wrist.

"Don't feel good, Leo," Raph moaned out slowly.

"I know, Raphie. But you're taking this hothead thing a little too far." He lifted more water from the tub with his hand and ran it down the other side of Raph's face. He leaned in when he thought he heard something else from Raphael and realized that Raph was humming. "Raph?"

"Yer a cherry blossom. Yer about to bloom. Ya look so pretty but yer gone so soon*," Raph sang out.

"Raph?" Leo said, feeling a little frantic as he watched Raph's unfocused eyes stare at their bathroom ceiling.

Raph laughed loudly and slid his eyes to Leo. "That's yer song, Leo. Yer so pretty. Pretty pretty Leo." He started singing the lyrics again, even louder than before.

Leo's now frantic eyes shot to Donnie and Don sighed again. "And he just earned himself some extra time in the tub," Donnie said, looking at his watch again. "He's just a little delirious." He tried to sound like it wasn't a big deal, for Leo's sake.

Raph suddenly stopped singing and rolled his head to one side. "Neck don't work," he said before laughing again as he tried to hold his head upright.

"Meds, Don?" Leo asked.

"He'll throw up anything I give him right now. Lets let the water do its job on his body temperature first and then we'll try some." Donnie stared back at Leo's worried face. "This will probably seem funny tomorrow."

He tried to hide a smile as Leo scowled at him. He checked his watch again and glanced back at Raphael who was staring at his fingers clenching and unclenching under the water.

They waited a few more minutes and finally Leo watched Raphael lift his head on his suddenly working neck and try to focus his eyes on Leo's face. He gratefully watched the glazed look disappear from those green eyes. Donnie pushed a button so the tub would start to drain and they slowly lifted Raphael up to a standing position. He stood shivering and Leo quickly wrapped a towel around his shoulders while he grabbed another to try to dry the rest of him off as Donnie went in search of some Tylenol.

"S-s'ry I ruin'd our p-plans," Raph stuttered out through his shivering.

Leo shushed him as he helped him climb out of the tub and gently slid a hand down the side of his face. "I'm sorry you don't feel good," he said in a low voice. He went back to drying off Raph's limbs. "We'll go another time. We'll just get you better first."

"N-need to s-sit," Raph said, his teeth started chattering again.

Leo nodded and in the next second scooped Raphael up in his arms and headed for their bedroom. Healthy Raphael would've protested immediately to being carried in such a way. So Leo was surprised and secretly pleased that sick Raphael's only response was to rest his head on Leo's shoulder.

Donnie beat him to the bedroom and pulled the blankets back so that Raphael could be immediately covered once Leo set him down on the bed. He handed Raph some Tylenol and a glass of water as Leo quickly moved to close the blinds in the room.

"Now I want you to go to sleep," Leo could hear Donnie say to Raph. "Leo is going to keep an eye on your temperature and call me if it gets too high again." Don glanced behind his back at Leo as he spoke and watched Leo nod.

Raphael grumbled as he huddled under the blankets. He watched Donnie murmur something quietly to Leo and then leave the room.

"W-want you," Raph said over to Leo and was happy when Leo crawled in next to him and wrapped his arms around his shell.

"You'll be sick next," Raph said. "You catch everythin."

"No," Leo murmured back. "You love me too much to share this."

"Betcha. Betcha ten bucks you go down next."

Leo smirked at Raph as he watched him doze off to sleep.

* * *

 * "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy


	9. Chapter 9

"Get back on the couch. You're not coming."

"Leo," Raph said in response. He was practically whining. "I've been trapped here for four days."

"I know, takara," Leo said, grinning when he heard Raph growl at him. "I've been trapped here with you. And you know I love you. But I'm banned from the kitchen for past digressions that we won't go into right now. You have been banned from entering the kitchen until you're better. And I'm _starving_."

"I'm getting hungry," Raph said.

Leo glanced back out to the living room and happily noted that Raph was once again seated on the couch. "That's a good sign. Want me to make you some toast?"

"Sure. Or I could save you the trouble and just stick one of my sais in the toaster right now."

"Very funny," Leo said, coming out to sit next to Raph on the couch. He looped his fingers into Raph's fingers and although Raph's fever had broken two days ago, Leo still felt relief at the relative coolness of Raph's skin. The high fever had been rather scary and had forced him to put Raph back into a lukewarm water bath at least one more time in the middle of that first night. It had been a rough few days of playing nurse to the ridiculously whiny sick Raphael and right now Leo was thrilled to see Raph sitting upright again with his sense of humor back intact.

The entire clan was expected every Sunday night for dinner at Mike and Woody's apartment, which was where Leo was expected to be in a few minutes. But he was stalling. He rested his head on the back of the couch and grinned over at Raphael.

"Maybe I'll just stay here with you."

"Yeah?" Raph said.

Leo watched those green eyes light up. The small sweet smile on his face. That made it.

"Yeah. I'll _order_ some food and text Mikey that you're still too sick to be left alone. You pick out a movie."

He was halfway to standing when Raph yanked on his hand and had him toppling down into the emerald turtle's lap.

"Aishiteru, Leo," Raph whispered to him and nudged his face against Leo's face.

Leo leaned forward and pressed his lips to Raph's smile. He had certainly missed kissing his favorite turtle. He remained there until Raph heard his stomach growling and leaned back to ask when _exactly_ Leo had last eaten something.

At Leo's hesitation to answer, Raph shoved him off his lap and grinned as Leo scowled at him from the floor. "Go order yer food."

"Love you too, Raph," Leo grumbled, pulling himself to his feet to head to their drawer of take-out menus.

* * *

 Although Raphael wasn't quite well enough to return to work himself, Leo left him the next morning on the couch with the remote and a box of crackers so he could return to teaching his class of small students.

Raphael couldn't believe how sore he was still feeling. He'd never been this ill before, and although Don said it was normal, he had no idea flu sickness could last this long. He almost laughed at himself when he realized his main goal for the day was to simply sit upright for as long as possible. He had made an attempt last night but had ended up with his head in Leo's lap halfway through their movie. And completely asleep before the movie was even over.

He rose from the couch and ignored the low throbbing in his head to head for the kitchen for some water. He pulled open the fridge and eyed the contents before thinking better of it and returning to the couch. He sat through another movie before he felt his eyes start to droop shut.

* * *

 "Why are we doing this?" Donnie asked. "Leo's T-phone signal says he's at the lair's dojo, which is exactly where he's supposed to be." Donnie glanced over at Raphael in the passenger seat of his car. Raph probably wouldn't have asked for a ride, but Donnie could tell he didn't have the strength yet to maneuver his shellcycle.

"His class ended three hours ago," Raph said, gruffly. He'd woken up on the couch earlier shocked that he'd been asleep for so long. And shocked that Leo wasn't home yet. "And he's not answerin his phone."

"And the Shellraiser is right here," Don said, parking right next to what they now all thought of as Leo's vehicle which was sitting in their old garage.

Donnie watched Raph stiffly climb out of the passenger seat and opened his own door to follow him inside.

Raphael entered the lair and froze as the copper scent of blood immediately hit his nose. He immediately forgot about his aches and dashed into the dojo. He stopped so fast at the entrance that Donnie ran right into the back of him. Usagi and all of Leo's little students were splayed haphazardly on the ground around the room.

Raph and Donnie began checking on each of the little students and while they were thankful the kids seemed to be just unconscious, it was soon obvious that the source of the copper scent was coming from a large blood stain on the floor..

And Leo was missing.

While Don worked on reviving Usagi, Raph examined the rest of the room and followed a trail of blood from the dojo out to the main room - as if someone had been dragged – which led to the lair's main entrance where it stopped. Raphael's own blood ran cold as his breathing became ragged.

"Raph!" Don called out to him.

He dragged his eyes away from where the trail ended and returned to Donnie's side. Don had Usagi sitting up and his eyes were blearily trying to open.

"Where the fuck is Leo?" Raph growled at him, shaking one of the Samurai's shoulders.

Usagi managed to get both eyes open and tried to focus on the two turtles in front of him, neither of which were his blue-eyed friend. "Leonardo," he tried to say, but his voice was hoarse and there was a ringing in his ears. He turned his head to the side and saw all the little ones knocked out around the room. "Pulse blaster," he managed to get out, gripping his forehead in his hands.

"Someone used a pulse blaster to knock out everyone," Donnie said. "The kids will have headaches when they wake up but they should be ok."

" _Leonardo_ , Don," Raph growled out at his brother. He needed the genius to focus. He stood up and walked back out to look at the blood trail again. It was only feeding his panic but he didn't know what else to do.

Donnie pulled out his phone and quickly called their youngest brother before turning back to Usagi. "Who was it, Usagi? Didn't you see?"

"Don," Raph said and Donnie froze at the scared tone in his brother's voice. He slowly turned and found Raph standing in the dojo doorway again, holding a bloody familiar blue cloth.


	10. Chapter 10

The little fox sat watching Raphael clean blood off of Master Leonardo's blue mask before he tied the cloth around one of his turtle wrists. He and his classmates had been moved out of the dojo once they had woken up and they were scattered out in the main room.

Akito rose from his spot on the floor and decided to approach the turtle with the red mask. He'd never really met him before, but the bunnies, some of whom were sitting in Raphael's lap, clearly trusted him and this turtle obviously cared about Master Leonardo.

He sat himself down next to Raphael and peered up at him. Raphael's eyes were sad and Akito could see that his arm and leg muscles were tense.

"Master Leonardo got sick," Akito finally worked up the nerve to say to him. He watched Raphael's head swing over to him.

"What kind of sick?" Raph asked, aware of how hoarse his voice sounded.

"He got pale and sweaty and threw up in a bucket," Akito said. He glanced over to where the other turtles and the giant rat were talking to Usagi. "His hands were shaking and he said we should stop our katas and sit down to practice meditation until Mr. Usagi arrived. Master Leonardo sat down too but he was breathing funny. And he taught us to keep our breathing steady, so I don't think he was really trying to meditate."

Raphael moved his eyes away from the fox and roared _goddammit!_ into his own head

He tried his best to remain calm in front of the little ones. It was what Leo would surely have done. But suddenly Raph couldn't breathe in that room. He gently re-seated the bunnies from his lap onto the couch next to where the helpful little fox was sitting so that he could stand and get into the dojo.

He slammed the door behind him and stomped over to his old punching bag. Where ever Leo was – _his_ Leonardo – he was not only injured enough to have bled all the way from the fucking dojo to the main entrance but apparently was now coming down with the same shitty flu that Raphael had been pretty sure was going to kill him only five days ago. He beat his fists into the punching bag, ignoring the unprotected skin over his knuckles as it cracked open and bled. He knew the others would be able to hear his hits from the other room, but this had to be better than him stomping around and swearing his face off in front of the kids.

The only other thing they knew was that shortly after Usagi had arrived, a pulse blaster – Donnie had found the grenade-like weapon in the dojo earlier – had been tossed into the dojo knocking everyone out. Usagi hadn't seen anyone. Had zero goddamn clues for them on where to head next to find their bleeding brother.

Raph stopped his hits mid-strike. He glanced back over at the bloody trail that had begun in this room. He followed the trail once again out through the main room while ignoring the looks from his family members. The trail was heavy and it hadn't lightened up by the time he reached the entrance. It didn't taper off. It just stopped. He stood staring for another few minutes.

* * *

Leo woke up in so much pain he wondered if he was actually dying. He was shivering and immediately reached out for Raphs' warm shell to fix at least one of his problems. But instead of Raphael, his hand scraped across cold stone. His teeth started chattering and he tried to roll to his side, but stopped moving when the aches in his muscles somehow caused even more pain in his head, which felt like it had been split in half. He heard himself moan out in pain before he could stop the sound.

But he did manage to freeze all movements and hold his breath when he heard voices.

"You were supposed to bring back a warrior. This turtle has a head injury and appears to have some sort of deadly infection."

"Well he doesn't normally look like that! And the head injury was his own fault!"

"He gave himself a head injury?" The first voice sounded skeptical.

"He saw me coming and pulled his katana before I threw in the weapon. The blast knocked his own sword into his own forehead."

"That injury still happened on your watch. The leaders aren't going to be happy."

"You have to let me treat him," a new, third voice said. "He won't be of any use to anyone if that fever is allowed to fry his brain."

Leo heard some grumbling from the other two voices before he felt himself falling back to sleep.

* * *

"I'm going to have to leave and take the children home," Usagi said. "The parents are probably frantic with worry as well."

Michelangelo looked down at the bunny in his lap. He wished it was that easy to have his big brother returned to them. He felt Woody's hand squeeze his shoulder. He looked back over at Raphael and frowned. He looked like a statue standing there staring at the entrance like that. Casey had gone to stand next to him but didn't appear to be trying to talk to him. He just glanced back and forth every few minutes between Raph's face and whatever he was staring at on the ground.

Raphael turned and eyed Usagi. "We're going with you."

"Excuse me?" Usagi asked.

"Whoever came for Leo knew he wouldn't be here alone," Raphael said. "They brought the pulse blaster, which didn't actually hurt any of the children. And the blood stops. It just stops."

"It doesn't continue to trail out of here," Donnie said, leaving Sadie and Master Splinter's sides to stand next to Raphael as he followed Raphael's line of thinking. "Which means maybe Leo wasn't brought out of here through the tunnels, but more likely through an inter-dimensional portal."

"Raph's right, dude," Mikey said, lifting the little bunny in his lap as he stood and headed towards his brothers. "We're going with you."

* * *

When Leo awoke again he felt pressure on his forehead. He immediately tried to move away.

"Hold still little turtle," a voice said. "I'm not trying to hurt you. But I'm also not the best at putting in stitches so you're only hurting yourself by moving around while I'm trying to sew up this gash in your head."

Leo froze and slowly opened his eyes. He'd seen a lot of things in his life but this was his first dinosaur. His teeth started chattering again and his body still ached. He fought off a wave of nausea and the instinct to sit up since he now he could feel the needle and thread being used across his forehead. He slowly reached a hand up and pressed a fist into his throbbing temple to try to relieve some of the horrible pain in his head.

Raphael's face flashed in his mind and he fought his instinct to sit up again.

"That should do it," the dinosaur said. "And now that you're awake you can swallow some pills. I'm going to help you sit up."

Leo grunted out what he hoped sounded like a negative response to that idea, but found he didn't have a choice as the large creature sat him up like a ragdoll and handed him a glass of water and some pills. Leo's head spun from being upright and it was almost enough to knock him right back out. But he found a chair across the small space they were in and focused all of his attention on it in order to remain upright and conscious. When he felt like he was going to stay where he was, he eyed the pills the dinosaur had given him.

The dinosaur watched Leo's struggle and almost grinned himself when Leo was clearly victorious in his efforts to stay conscious.

"They said you were a fighter," he said. "I'm here to make you better. Not worse. I got you those pills are for the aches and fever. Take em."

Leo slowly lifted his eyes to the dinosaur. God, even moving his eyeballs hurt. He put the pills in his mouth and took a drink of water to swallow them down. He knew he had questions but his head was swimming in a fevered mess and his body began screaming at him that he was going to vomit if he continued to sit upright. He slowly slumped back down and gratefully closed his eyes.

He thought of Raphael again as he drifted off to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Even though he hadn't spoken a single one out loud, Leo took back every unkind thought he'd had while listening to Raphael whine when he was sick. This flu virus was the worse illness he'd ever been dealt and he knew now that Raph had been justified in all of his loud complaining about how much everything hurt.

He was in a cave. His senses were finally returning enough for him to work out his surroundings. It irritated and worried him that sunlight didn't reach him to indicate the time of day. The worst part, other than his fierce wish to see Raphael, was that he had no sense of time. He knew he had woken up a few times and that the dinosaur had given him additional pills each time. He would admit only to himself that whatever the medication was did take the edge off from the aches and seemed to fight the fever because his brain no longer felt like a fuzzy mess.

He opened his eyes again and looked around. Typically, there was a single candle lit on a table out of his reach from the cot where he slept. And typically, the large dinosaur was here when he woke up.

But this time he found himself alone.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and felt the now familiar head rush that sent shocks of pain into his eyeballs and his temples. The dinosaur had mentioned a gash in his forehead and he knew he still had stitches, but the flu virus was so bad that he hadn't even given the head injury a second thought.

He swung his legs over the side of the cot, pushed himself into a standing position and grit his teeth against the dizziness. Even if he was receiving medical treatment, he knew he was still a prisoner. Although they clearly thought him too sick to escape since he wasn't restrained in any way.

For a moment he thought about lying back down on the cot and maybe waiting until he felt stronger to make an attempt to get out of there. But Raph's face came to mind again and his desperate need to see Raphael kept him on his feet.

Besides, if Raphael was here, he sure as hell wouldn't lie back down when he had a chance to escape. Leo let that thought give him strength as he slowly moved his body forward. He reached his hand out and braced himself against the wall as he walked. He turned a few corners and then froze when he spotted the entrance. He edged closer and realized there was a single guard standing outside of it. From this angle, he could see tents set up outside the cave. He heard a single voice yelling which was followed by what sounded like a large group cheering. They clearly agreed with whatever the main speaker had to say.

Suddenly the guard turned and saw Leo standing there. Again, Raphael's face appeared in Leo's mind. He smirked and dropped into a defensive crouch as the guard charged towards him.

* * *

Raphael finally felt fully recovered from the flu virus, which he should, since it had been four goddamn days since Leo had disappeared. The fact that he was healthy and back to his full strength also made it easier for him to walk around with the full strength of his anger radiating off of him.

He knew they were on the right track in Usagi's dimension. He could almost sense Leonardo here. But being in the correct dimension didn't do them a damn bit of good if they had no idea where to look for him.

He and Casey headed back into Usagi's place where they found Mike and Donnie on the couch. One glance at his brothers and he knew they hadn't gotten any further in their investigations either.

"Nothing at that little fox's house?" Mikey asked, even though he could see the answer on Raph's face. He watched Raph fidget with Leo's blue bandana, still tied around his wrist.

"Less than nothin," Casey said. "Neighbors said the parents died almost 3 months ago. Some kind of accident. That address isn't even where the kid lives anymore."

Usagi silently appeared back in his home then as well and the Hamatos gathered around the rabbit to hear what he had learned from his sources.

"There is a group here, a rebellion, who disagrees with our rulers, our government. They are not new, but I did not realize until now how much they had grown. Their plan is to challenge the government with a show of force."

Usagi paused, the turtle clan wasn't going to like the next part of what he'd discovered. "There is a tradition, a very old tradition, but one that is still recognized by both parties. The rebellion can demand a match, an actual spar, where they present challengers who would fight on their behalf. And if the challengers win, then their demands would have to be met by the current government."

Michelangelo fell back down on the couch. He wasn't even sure when he had stood in the first place. "No way, dude. No way they turtle-napped Leo just to force him to fight for them."

Donnie sat down next to him and rested his head against the back of the couch. "They have to have noticed how sick he is," Don said. "No way they'd want him to fight right now. They're probably just holding him somewhere." And hopefully treating his fever. He didn't say the last bit out loud. Raphael was already worried enough without needing to know how much worse this could be if Leo wasn't receiving medical treatment. No doubt since Raph had just lived through the virus himself, he already knew.

Raph tensed. He wanted to yell obscenities but after no leads for the past four days, he latched onto the first real information they'd learned. "How do we find the rebel base?" he asked.

A rebel Star Wars joke popped into Mikey's head but he was too sad to say it out loud. Instead he dropped his head into his hands and sighed.

"We came here because whoever grabbed Leo knew there'd be kids present back at the lair," Donnie said, resting a hand on the back of Mikey's sad shell. "So I know we think that whoever has him is probably connected to one of the kids in his class."

"But we've hit dead ends on all the kids so far," Casey said.

"No we haven't," Raph said, perking up, thinking about what Casey had said earlier. He tugged at Leo's bandana to tighten it around his wrist. "The fox's parents died 3 months ago. Right when he started taking Leo's class. Seems kinda suspicious."

"I agree, Raphael," Usagi said, nodding.

* * *

Leo felt the cold metal shackle on his wrist before he even opened his eyes. He glanced down and saw that one of his hands was now chained to the wall in the cave.

"I had doubts about you, little turtle, but you certainly are impressive," the dinosaur said. "Too stupid to know how very sick you are, but very impressive."

Leo lifted his wrist and gave the chain a tug anyway.

"By what they said when they brought you back, you actually made it pretty far into those woods out there, especially given your illness." Leo heard the dinosaur continue. "Too bad they found you after you passed out and brought you back." The dinosaur eyed him as he continued to pull at the chain. "You're going to hurt your wrist."

Leo ignored him and continued to pull at the shackle.

"Who's Raph?" the dinosaur asked. He immediately noticed the shift in the turtle's face as he stopped trying to pull the chain from the wall and looked over at him suspiciously. The dinosaur shrugged in response, "You say his name a lot, even when you're unconscious."

Leo turned his shell to the dinosaur and squeezed his eyes shut again. _Raph_ , he thought to himself. _Raphael, where are you?_

* * *

The next time Leo opened his eyes he felt something warm pressed against his plastron. In his hazy, half-asleep mind, he foolishly hoped it was Raph's warm shell. But after a few moments he realized it was much too small to be Raphael. And too furry.

He opened his eyes and was shocked at who was curled up against him.

"Akito?" he said, and watched as the little fox slowly opened his own eyes from sleep and peered up at him.

"Master Leonardo!" Akito jumped up and climbed closer to Leo's face so he could wrap his arms around Leo's neck. "You're awake. Everyone was so worried."

Leo slowly sat up and adjusted Akito in his lap as his head spun in pain. He glanced over at the dinosaur who still sat in a chair by Leo's cot. The dinosaur shrugged at him.

"Kid snuck in here and seemed like he knew you."

Leo eyed the little fox. "I'm in your dimension, aren't I?" he asked, although it wasn't really a question.

Akito nodded to him. "Usagi brought me home after we all woke up and you were gone. Then my uncle brought me here yesterday for camping. But I heard them talking about a turtle warrior in the cave so I had to come see if it was you."

"Are you okay from that blast?" Leo asked and Akito nodded. "And the other students and Usagi? Everyone is okay?"

Akito nodded again. "There were other turtles there when we woke up."

Leo felt a pain in his chest. He hated to be the source of worry for his family. Hated to be a source of pain for Raphael.

"The red one is wearing your blue bandana on his wrist," Akito said, remembering how sad Raphael had looked.

Raph, Leo thought, squeezing his eyes shut as an image of Raphael's worried face came to him.

"And they came here with Mr. Usagi."

Leo's eyes popped back open and focused on Akito. "They're here? In this dimension?"

Akito nodded and leaned in closer to Leo. "They hid when Mr. Usagi returned us to our families. I haven't told my uncle they're here."

Leo smiled at the fox. "Very wise little ninja," he whispered back.

Akito beamed up at him.

Suddenly the fox's ears perked up and then pressed back against his head in a way that immediately brought to mind Maser Splinter's ears when he heard something unpleasant. Akito hopped out of Leo's lap and landed on the floor by his feet. Leo also watched the dinosaur shift in his seat. He knew they were hearing something that his clogged ears couldn't.

He focused his attention to the entrance of their room in the cave and was surprised to see a large red fox holding Leo's sheathed katana enter. A large red fox Leo recognized as Akito's uncle. They'd met one time during the parent meet and greet. He leaned Leo's katana against the opposite wall from where he sat. Out of his reach now thanks to his new wrist shackle.

"I see you found your Master Leonardo, Akito," the large fox said, sitting down in the only other chair in the room. "I'm happy to see you sitting upright looking mostly healthy. Your fellow warrior over there insisted we treat your medical issues so you should probably thank him for taking care of you."

Leo glanced towards the dinosaur and for the first time since arriving, realized the dinosaur was a prisoner here as well. He leaned forward slightly and looked him over until he found a shackle around one of the dinosaur's ankles.

"You should know that my nephew talks about you and your skills non-stop. You have quite a little fan there. I knew he'd be the perfect little student for your class. And the little guy didn't even realize I'd planted a tracking chip on him before he left for his last class with you. Led us right to you." His eyes narrowed at Akito and he smiled.

Leo felt Akito huddle closer to his foot. Akito didn't spend time talking about his family during class the way some of the other students did and Leo was beginning to understand why.

The large fox refocused his attention on Leo and the dinosaur. "You two should feel quite honored. You have been chosen to be the warriors to fight for our cause. When you win the battle, the government will be forced to turn the power of the nation over to our group."

"What makes you think we'll fight for you?" Leo's cellmate asked.

The fox laughed and shrugged. "You'll be tossed into the ring whether you agree with us or not. If you don't fight, the soldiers will just kill you right away. Or you can fight and keep yourselves alive. I'd choose the second option." He stood up. "Come, Akito. Our warriors need to rest. Tomorrow is a big day for them."

Akito pressed himself against Leo's foot one more time before moving away and following his uncle out of the cave.

Leo looked to the dinosaur again and thought of all the scowls he'd sent his way since he'd previously assumed the dinosaur was another guard. "I am very thankful that you insisted on taking care of me," he said sincerely. "My name is Hamato Leonardo."

The triceratops nodded in return. "I'm Traximus. But you can call me Trax."

"Call me Leo, then."


	12. Chapter 12

Trax told Leo that he wasn't from this dimension either. He was a gladiator in his own world and had been brought here only a few days before Leo had been dragged in. Leo didn't get to tell him much about himself. His throat was bothering him too much to talk and soon his head demanded that he lie back down on the cot.

Leo was asleep when he felt Trax nudging his shoulder. He opened his eyes and squinted through his headache at the dinosaur.

"Something's happening outside," Trax whispered over to him.

Leo pushed himself into a sitting position and tried to listen. His clogged ears were a severe disadvantage but soon he could hear shouting outside the cave. He exchanged a glance with Trax.

"Master Leonardo," Akito said, breathless as he rounded the corner into their room in the cave. He sprinted over to Leo and held his paw up, showing him the key he'd spent the last few hours searching for in his uncle's tent.

Leo grinned at the little fox as he quickly took the key and unlocked first his wrist and then Trax's foot. He moved across the room, picked up his katana and began buckling the straps into place across his plastron as the three of them moved down the tunnels towards the exit. They slowed as the exit came into view and Leo noticed there were currently no guards.

But now that they could see outside the cave, they saw the source of the yelling. Uniformed soldiers were lighting tents on fire, which provided illumination for them to see the soldiers and members of the rebellion fighting each other.

"Fire!" Akito said, his eyes round in fear. "I'll be back!" he called over his shoulder and ran off before Leo could even think to stop him.

Leo and Trax were immediately targeted by the soldiers as they exited the cave.

"They're not going to stop and listen right now to understand that we're here against our will," Trax said and Leo nodded in understanding.

A soldier immediately swung a sword at Leo's head and he pulled his own sword to defend himself. He felt annoyance grow within him as he felt like he was moving in slow motion. A voice in his head, a voice that sounded a lot like Raphael, yelled at him to move faster. He was no longer chained to a wall. He was out of the cave. It was time to fight.

His muscles screamed at him but he managed to grind his feet into the ground and push the soldier back. He spun around as he saw another soldier raise a weapon and take aim towards Traximus. He leapt forward and shouldered the soldier.

Trax, who was wrestling two soldiers off his arms, watched as the tranquilizer dart missed him by inches. He swung his arms and the soldiers flew off of him.

"Thanks. I think that makes us even," Trax said.

Leo turned away from the cave entrance and faced the larger group fighting in the dark again. Almost every tent was on fire and Leo could feel the heat coming from the flames.

"Akito," he said as he spotted his young student running back towards him, swiftly dodging the fighting soldiers and rebels as he ran.

Leo's eyes narrowed and he began moving forward as he spotted Akito's uncle chasing after him. More soldiers charged towards Leo and he surprised himself by dodging them, swinging his sword defensively in an attempt to ward them off without actually hurting any of them. It was when he saw a soldier reach an arm out to grab Akito that he moved with more purpose, swinging himself around to land a kick to the soldier's chest. He scooped Akito up in one arm and turned back to move towards the edge of camp.

"Leo!" Trax called out.

Leo looked back only to see Akito's uncle swinging a large spiked club towards him. He twisted his body sideways in order to protect Akito who would've taken the direct hit. The club swung into him and Leo fell to his knees as he heard a cracking noise in his shell and felt spikes go into his unprotected side.

"No!" Akito called out, tightening his one arm around Leo's neck.

The large fox lifted his arms to swing again and was immediately disarmed as Trax, who towered over the fox, grabbed the club and swiftly swung it into the fox's stomach, heaving his body into one of the burning tents.

"Leo, get up!" Trax yelled over to him. "I didn't nurse your ass back to health to watch you go down while protecting the little one. Get him out of here!"

Leo had been staring at his side, watching as blood spilled out of what looked like a rather impressive hole. He lifted his head and looked up at his new dinosaur friend. Then he looked down at Akito and noticed for the first time that the fox was clutching something. Akito's eyes were large and round and looked frightened and Leo realized his little student not only just witnessed his teacher receive a pretty gruesome injury but also his uncle's death. He had to get Akito out of there. He tightened his arm around the little one and pushed himself back to his feet.

"Go, I'll cover you," Trax said, using his newfound weapon to keep the soldiers and the rebels away from them.

Leo nodded to Trax and forced his feet to begin moving towards the trees.

"What was so important that you ran into all that to retrieve it?" Leo asked, his voice even more hoarse than before. He hoped he didn't sound scary. He was trying to distract Akito, not frighten him even more.

Akito's eyes moved away from the fighting and the fire behind them and pulled back the blanket in his arms to reveal a tiny baby fox's face.

Leo was so shocked he almost stopped walking. "Who is that?" He slipped into the trees. He was having a hard time breathing and he could feel dizziness trying to overwhelm him. The Raphael voice in his head pushed him to keep walking.

"It's my sister, Machi. My uncle only let me see her when I did what he wanted. Like tell him about you or follow his directions."

Leo let a light growl escape him at the thought of holding one sibling hostage to force another to do things.

"Master Leonardo, can we stay with you now?" Akito asked, clutching baby Machi closer to his chest as he peered up at Leo's face.

Leo didn't get a chance to answer. His arm swung out to grab hold of something to keep him upright but only air met his fingers as he fell to the ground.

* * *

Raphael smelled the smoke before he heard Mikey's comment about someone having a bonfire. It was dark out but if he looked up he could see smoke rising above the trees thanks to the large orange glow below it. They'd already been running through the forest but the thought of Leo trapped in a fiery mess had him speed up his pace. The others quickly followed behind him.

None of Usagi's sources had known where the rebel camp was located. But when they started asking specifically where the new guardian of Leo's little fox student could be found, they began to get more information. The first two leads had led to empty apartments. The third source said the fox's uncle said he was taking the kid camping in the north woods.

When they reached the source of the fire, it was pretty clear by the number of burning tents that this wasn't a single uncle and nephew camp site they'd found.

Raphael could feel the others looking to him for instructions. It creeped him out.

"Spread out and search," he finally said, taking off himself.

The battle that had previously torn this place apart was over and soldiers were collecting the rebels to take them away.

"Stop right there," a soldier yelled, advancing towards Raphael.

Raph growled and pulled his sais from his belt.

"No! Leave him alone," a large dinosaur said, coming towards Raph. "I told you, the other turtle was a prisoner as well."

The soldier eyed Raph and his weapons but turned and went in the other direction.

"Over here!" Raph called out to the rest of the team. "Where he is?" Raph demanded of the dinosaur, too impatient for politeness.

Trax eyed the turtle's wrist. The little fox had said the red one was wearing Leo's blue bandana. "Are you Raph?"

"Where is Leo?" Raph asked, trying to keep the growl out of his voice. He sensed his brothers, Casey and Usagi come up behind him.

"He's injured. He took off into the woods with the little fox," Trax said, deciding that this group was here to rescue and not harm Leo.

Raph nodded to him quickly and took off in a sprint in the direction the dinosaur had pointed. The rest of the team was right behind him, their feet silent as they hit the ground.

The feeling that Leo was close grew strong and Raph tried to focus on it. But he was suddenly distracted by a flash of silver. His sais was out and blocking as he realized it was Leo's sword he was knocking away from swinging into his knees.

"Whoa, kid!" he called out, disarming the little fox. "What are you doing with Leo's sword?"

It took Akito a moment, in the darkness, to recognize Raphael. But he felt relief wash over him as soon as he realized who had found him. The feeling only grew as Usagi and Master Leonardo's other brothers soon appeared as well.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you. I was trying to protect him. He's hurt!" Akito grabbed Raphael's hand and pulled him immediately a few feet to the right, revealing an unconscious Leo.

Raph dropped to his knees by Leonardo and quickly pulled his head into his lap. He wanted to pull his whole body into him but he could see a large bloody wound in Leo's side. So, instead Raph had to content himself with sliding his hands down Leo's pale face and examining the stitches that ran across his forehead as he watched Don drop to Leo's side and begin working on the injury.

Mikey sat on Leo's other side and scooped up the baby fox he found curled into Leo. He invited Leo's little fox student into his lap as well when he noticed Akito take a protective step towards the baby. Akito considered the offer for only a moment before sitting on Mikey's knee.

Mikey did his best to coo over the baby to keep her quiet while he listened to the murmurs between Don and Raph about Leo's injuries and loud and raspy breathing. He glanced behind him and saw Casey presumably standing guard as his eyes roamed the trees around them. Usagi stood next to him, switching back and forth between staring intently at Leo and looking back towards the burning rebel base.

Mikey leaned forward with his free hand and took hold of one of Leo's hands. He frowned as he turned the hand over and examined the chafing around the skin of his wrist.

Leo breathed in and Raphael's scent filled his nose. "Raph," he managed to say on a noisy exhale.

"Leo," Raph immediately said in a choked exhale back. He leaned down towards Leo's face. Leo's eyes were still closed but Raph watched as his face twisted in pain. "I've got you, Leo. We've got you."

Leo grit his teeth against the pain in his side. He could feel Raph's warm hands on either side of his face. No doubt it was Donnie currently poking him in the side, which left Mikey to be the cause of the pressure he could feel on one of his hands.

He exhaled in relief. Raphael. His brothers. They'd found him.


	13. Chapter 13

Raphael had been camping out next to Leo in their bed for the last three days. Leo woke up every now and then. He'd find Raphael next to him, his green eyes always shining down on Leo, asking if Leo needed anything and Leo would re-wrap his arms around Raph and then promptly go back to sleep.

Raph was happy to have Leo's body pressed against him, since it comforted him as much as it seemed to comfort Leo. But he was impatient for Leo to truly wake up. He needed Leo awake and talking to prove that he was really ok.

The family checked in on them often. More often than Raph thought entirely necessary, mainly because he wanted to be alone with Leo. But he allowed it without a whole lot of grumbling. Plus, they brought him food and updates on how the little foxes were doing. Akito had been repeatedly asking for Master Leonardo and they were trying to explain to him that Leo just needed some sleep and that they were sure he'd be happy to see the little fox again once he woke up.

Raph laid on his side with Leo on his uninjured side facing him. He ran his hand down the side of Leo's sleeping face again. Leo's skin still looked paler than normal. Raph regretted not only sharing the flu virus with Leo, but that Leo had gone through the worst part of the virus, those first few days of it, in a cold cave. Without him. He moved his hand down Leo's neck and across his shoulder before moving down his arm. He frowned again as he came to Leo's wrist and saw the irritated skin from the metal shackle. He made a mental note to ask Don for more of the medicated cream to rub on the wrist. His fingers continued and traced over Leo's fingers before he retraced the pattern back up Leo's arm.

His eyes narrowed in on the new crack on the outer rim of Leo's shell as his fingers lightly traced over the damage. Don had said the shell had taken most of the impact when Leo had been struck, but that wasn't all that comforting when Raphael considered how gruesome the side injury appeared to be.

Leo's eyes slowly opened and he smiled when he found Raphael still there. "I don't think I can adequately tell you how much I love seeing your face when I open my eyes." His voice was hoarse, his throat still sore from the illness. But he was relieved that the skull crushing headache was finally gone.

"Missed you," Raph whispered back to him, pushing Leo onto his shell so that he could climb over top of him. He kept his weight off Leo, though, and stayed away from his injured side. He kept his eyes on Leo's blue ones as he began kissing Leo's face and then moved down to his neck. He pushed himself backwards so that he could sit straddling Leo's waist before he began tracing the outside edge of Leo's plastron with both hands. He watched as Leo shivered under his fingers.

Raph moved himself even further down Leo's body until he was situated between his feet. He rubbed his hands up and down Leo's legs in a slow massage for the achey muscles. His movements were slow. Worshipful. He heard a low moan come from Leo and smiled up at him. He continued his massage and bent forward to press kisses to Leo's legs.

He climbed back up Leo's body, kissing as he went. He straddled his waist again and moved his hands to give Leo's arms the same slow worshipping massage treatment.

Leo kept his eyes on Raphael's face as small, content sighs escaped him. He hadn't even realized how much his muscles were still hurting until Raphael had begun to chase the aches away.

Raph's hands continued to work on Leo's arms as he lowered his upper body so that he could kiss Leo. He heard himself moan into Leo's mouth as soon as their tongues twisted together. He let go of Leo's arms so that he could use one arm to brace himself and continue to keep his weight off of Leo, while the other hand slid to the side of Leo's face. "Missed you," he whispered again fiercely and Leo nodded in return.

He felt Leo's arms wrap around his shell and pull his weight down on top of him. He immediately agreed with the new position. This _was_ better. He pushed his face into Leo's neck and breathed in his scent. With his body pressed against an awake Leonardo, he finally felt like he could give voice to his thoughts from the past few days.

"I've never been so scared before, Leo," his voice was muffled into Leo's neck but Leo could hear him clearly and instinctual tightened his arms around Raph. "Any other time one of us has disappeared, we've always known who to blame and where to start looking. This was the worst."

"Thank you for finding me," Leo whispered back to him. "I knew you would."

"You were doin a pretty damn good job gettin yerself out of there," Raph answered back, kissing the side of Leo's face again.

"That was the second time I made it out of that cave and the second time I collapsed in the woods," Leo said, huffing out a small dry laugh as he slowly shook his head.

Raphael lifted his head from Leo's neck to look at him directly. "You have quite a protector in that little fox. He's going to need a lighter sword, though. He could only lift yers high enough to try to stab me in the knee."

Leo chuckled. ""Normally that would be enough to take someone down, you know,"

"What are we gonna do about those two?"

Leo shifted his eyes to the side. "They don't have a family any more."

Raphael smiled at him. "I think they do."

Leo's eyes returned to Raph's face and he smiled up at the look of determination he found there. "You're sure? Two little kids?"

"I'm _sure_ I can do anything with you."

Leo stared into Raph's green eyes and smiled at the sincerity. Still, he couldn't help teasing him. "I'm sure you can do anything _to me."_

Raph smirked down at him. "And I intend to. As soon as yer back on yer feet."

"I don't think you'll want me on my feet."

"Oh, Jeezus," Raph said, barking out a laugh and rolling his eyes. "Yer such a dork."

Leo smiled at the laugh he'd managed to pull out of Raphael. So much better than Raph's worried expressions. His hand trailed over Raph's wrist, still wrapped in Leo's blue mask.

"Am I going to get this back?" he asked.

Raphael shook his head. "You have others."

"I missed you too, Raphie," Leo said suddenly in a whisper before he pulled Raph's face down for another kiss.

"By the way," Raph said, pulling his face away suddenly after a quick kiss, "you owe me ten bucks. You did come down with the flu right after me. I won the bet"

"I don't think that counts as a win."

"Why not?" Raph narrowed his eyes down at Leo.

Leo smiled at the narrowed eyes. "Because you didn't actually see me sick. How do you know for sure that I had the flu?"

"Ya gonna lie to me and tell me you didn't have the flu?"

"I'm just not going to confirm it either way," Leo said, grinning at him.

Raph growled at him as he pressed his mouth against Leo's again.

* * *

Leo smiled as he watched Raph also use a little wooden sword as he practiced with Akito out on the mats of their dojo. A few moments later five little bunnies hopped into the room and immediately swarmed Raph and Akito, demanding attention. Usagi came over and sat next to Leonardo. After a few questions from Usagi about Leo's health, Leo turned his attention to his friend.

"I don't think I thanked you for helping the others in my rescue. I'd probably still be stuck somewhere in your dimension if you hadn't agreed to bring my brothers back with you."

"It was my pleasure to assist them, Leonardo. You have an impressive team."

"Yes," Leo said. "I've been thinking about my team these past few days. About my family. You know, if _you_ went missing, I'd _eventually_ notice," he kept his voice light and smiled at his friend. "But I went missing and less than four hours later everyone in my family was already searching for me."

Usagi frowned. Leonardo was going somewhere with this, but he wasn't sure where.

"So let me ask you a question, why are you choosing just one of these little bunnies to train?" His eyes went back to the group out on the mats and observed what seemed to be a free-for-all spar.

"That – that is the way it is done."

"I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I had been chosen _alone_ for training as a child and plucked away from my brothers. It's a lonely life, is it not, Usagi?" he asked, turning his eyes back to his friend. He didn't wait for a response. He could see it in the rabbit's eyes. "There's really no reason for you to be lonely. I mean, being a rabbit, you've probably got what, five...six hundred brothers and sisters?"

Usagi rolled his eyes but couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"I'd be willing to continue training those bunnies only if they were trained as a team," Leo said. "They need each other." He looked back out to the sparring match and found Raphael guiding one of the little rabbits in a counter-attack against Akito's swords with a small wooden set of the defensive sais. "And surely you've seen how much they've progressed with Akito's presence and influence." Leo's chest swelled with a small amount of pride as he mentioned his newly adopted son.

Leo turned then as he sensed Machi waking up. He watched as she swiftly climbed out of the basket she'd been napping in by his feet. He scooped her up into his lap before she could toddle out into the fray of flipping bodies and wooden weapons. She protested and squirmed and he flipped her around to face him so he could silently plead with her to give it a few more years.

"Before meeting you, Leonardo, your request is something that I would have never considered, let alone agreed to," Usagi paused. "But I can certainly see the appeal given the bond I've witnessed within your own clan." Usagi stood and gave Leo a small nod before heading out.

Raphael swung himself out of the group spar and headed to Leo. He scooped up Machi from Leo's lap and tossed her into the air, earning a small giggle, before tucking her into the crook of one of his arms.

"What'd he say?"

"That I'm obviously right and he completely agrees with me," Leo replied in his smuggest tone.

Raph smirked. "So he responded with somethin vague and gave you that nod on his way out for an answer?"

"A yes is a yes," Leo said, smiling at Machi and brushing his hand over the soft fur on her back.

"And yer sure you don't want to open the class back up to the others?"

"Not right now," Leo said, shaking his head. "If this group is going to be a real team, I'd rather focus on them for now, like Master Splinter was able to do with us." Leo stood slowly. His side was still extremely stiff when he moved. Or breathed. Not that he'd admit it to anyone else.

Raph nodded. "I'm going to take Machi downstairs and feed her while you wrangle yer furry herd into frosty, quiet ninjas."

"My instructions work on _you_ don't they?" Leo asked. He smiled at the glare he received, leaned over, kissed his emerald turtle until he heard a small moan come from Raph and then turned to call his students to attention.


	14. Chapter 14

Raphael noticed that with the kids in the apartment, he was an even lighter sleeper than before. Their second bedroom had become Akito's bedroom and their previously unused office was Machi's nursery. The kids had only been sleeping in their new rooms for about a week but he had already determined which sounds meant they were dreaming and which sounds meant they were wide awake and ready to get up in the morning.

The sound he was hearing right now, however, wasn't coming from one of the kids. Leo's body, which was tucked into his side, was twitching while Leo mumbled something in his sleep. The hand that he had wrapped around Leo squeezed his shoulder, while his other hand reached over and stroked Leo's face until he suddenly woke.

Leo sprung upright in bed and Raph watched him as he began to alternately rub both of his wrists with his hands. Raphael sat up next to him and took Leo's hands into his own to stop the frantic movements.

When he was sure Leo would leave his wrists alone, he let go of his hands and pulled Leo into his plastron. By now, Raph had heard the full story of what had happened during Leo's abduction directly from Leo and Raph didn't ask him any questions now. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time Leo had dreamed that he was shackled back in that cave.

Leo shuddered in Raph's arms. He'd been freezing in the dream. And alone. And unable to move his arms. And as much as he appreciated Raphael's silent midnight support, he wished he could hide the dreams from Raph. Raph had been treating Leo like a glass doll since his return and Leo's nightmares of the abduction weren't helping Leo's cause to get Raph to knock it off. Leo understood he did have a major injury. And that it had also been a pretty scary ordeal for Raphael as well. And at first, Raph's behavior was even endearing.

But it became less endearing when Raph refused to let Leo leave the building without some sort of chaperone, whether it was Raphael or some other family member. Even if it was just to go down to the first floor to pick up food or groceries that they'd ordered.

Raph had finally gone back to work just that morning and when he'd called Leo on his lunch break to see how he and the kids were doing, Leo had to endure an angry, roaring Raphael when Leo told him that he was taking the kids to the basketball court to teach Akito how to play.

Raphael had demanded Leo return to their secure apartment. Leo had disagreed.

So Raphael left work early, on his first day back, to race to the basketball court where he could sit and guard Leo and the kids. Leo didn't want to fight with Raph in front of the Akito and Machi, so except for a few glares he sent Raph's way, he mostly ignored his bodyguard. And Raphael had eventually gone back to work, but only after he had seen Leo and their little foxes safely into their building's elevator.

Dinner that night had been a little tense with Leo ignoring the confused looks Raph was sending him. After dinner Leo scooped up both kids in his lap and read them a story, something that he found relaxing because it was the one event of the day that Machi would sit still for. Then he and Raph worked together to tuck them both into their beds. When Raph was finished cleaning up the kitchen, he found that Leo had already gone to bed himself, which pleased him because he loved the idea that Leo was resting while safe and sound at home.

As Leo had lay there in bed earlier that night, he realized he would be willing to overlook the overprotectiveness if he an outlet for some of his frustrations. But the stitches in his side made any active movements in the dojo impossible and Raph was currently unwilling to do anything other than cuddle with Leo in bed, for fear of aggravating his injury. Leo felt more on edge than ever.

Once he had his breathing from the nightmare under control, he raised his eyes and found Raph's green ones full of concern. He didn't want to be frustrated with Raphael for caring _too much_ about him. How was he supposed to say that out loud anyway? "Raph, you are way too concerned about me." He could imagine how well that conversation would go over.

Leo decided to forgo the conversation altogether. He twisted his body, pain in his side be damned, and wrapped his arms tightly around Raph's neck before pressing his lips to Raph's mouth. Raphael was surprised, Leo could tell because for the first few moments Raph sat frozen. Leo pressed himself harder against Raphael and pushed his tongue past Raph's lips, hunting out the response he wanted.

Finally Raphael's mouth began to respond to Leo's advances. His lips melded with Leo's and his tongue twisted around Leo's probing tongue. Leo felt Raph's hands move to the back of his neck and pull him impossibly closer.

Leo pulled his mouth away from Raph's mouth only so he could untwist himself and properly straddle Raphael's lap.

"Leo, wait," Raph whispered with his suddenly free mouth.

But Leo was finished waiting. His mouth quickly covered Raph's again and Leo figured that whatever Raph had wanted to say couldn't have been that important because he quickly welcomed Leo's tongue back in his mouth. Leo took advantage of his new position and began to grind his lower plastron against the lower plastron of his emerald turtle. He soon felt bulges forming on both of them and that was distraction enough to ignore the stinging in his side caused by the constant movement.

He heard a churr roll up from Raph's chest and quickly answered the call with one of his own. Raph responded by wrapping his arms around Leo's middle to pull him closer and unfortunately, Leo couldn't contain the hiss of pain that escaped him at the sudden pressure on his side.

Raph jerked his now panting face away from Leo's. 'I hurt you?"

"No, Raph, its fine," Leo whispered back, as he tried to use his hands on Raph's neck to pull him close again.

But Raphael was stronger than Leo. And just as stubborn. He refused to let Leo close the space between them again. "I'm not going to hurt you, Leonardo. You've been through enough."

Leo stilled in Raph's lap. His fingers loosened their grip. "I said I'm fine. And I'm the one who started this."

Raphael leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Leo did his best not to roll his eyes in frustration at the downgrade.

"Let's just go to sleep," Raph said. "You need more rest anyway and those stitches will be out in a few days."

"We've never refrained just because one of us had stitches," Leo said, raising an eye ridge at Raphael.

Raph lay back down on the bed and tried to coax Leo towards him but Leo resisted the tug on his arm. He tried again and Leo yanked his arms away from Raphael.

"Don't pull so hard. You might upset the stitches," Leo said. He knew he sounded like a sarcastic child but he didn't care. He climbed off of Raphael and out of their bed. He headed out to the main room and towards the door of their apartment.

A large emerald palm on the door prevented him from opening it.

"Where are you going?" Raph asked in a loud whisper, mindful that they had sleeping children in the apartment.

Leo glared at the hand blocking his exit. He huffed out a frustrated breath before finally answering, "I'm going upstairs to the dojo. I won't leave the fucking building."

Raph's eyes narrowed on Leo's face. He wanted Leo to come back to bed and get some rest. But Leo refused to make eye contact with him and was obviously pissed. It didn't happen often, but a pissed off Leo could easily rival Raphael at his angriest. They were surprisingly similar in their need for headspace when they were truly mad. So Raph removed his hand from their door and was soon standing by himself as Leo swiftly left the apartment.

Raphael turned but found he couldn't go back into their bedroom without Leo. So he sat down on the couch instead and glanced back at the door before wondering what he was doing in their apartment alone. Leo had just returned from being turtle-napped less than two weeks ago. There was really no reason they should be apart, especially when they'd already spent most of the day apart since he'd gone back to work. Well, most of the day anyway. There were those two hours in the middle of the day when he'd left work to make sure Leo and the kids made it to the basketball court and back safely. He could slightly understand Leo's glares about that one. But what mattered most was that he kept everyone safe and that they were together at the end of the day.

Except that they weren't.

Raph's mind flew back to Leo sitting in his lap in bed. Leo's altered breathing. Leo's tight grip on his neck. Leo grinding against Raph with a desperate need that Raph hadn't actually noticed at the time because he was too worried about what the movement was doing to Leo's stitches. He glanced down at the bulge growing in his lower plastron as the earlier scene ran through his mind and suddenly growled at himself for being an idiot. Of course Leo was frustrated with him.

He stood and listened outside the kids' bedrooms and assured himself they were fast asleep before grabbing the baby monitor and quickly exiting the apartment. April and Sadie had gone furniture shopping for the two kids' rooms and he'd scoffed when he'd found the baby monitor in the multiple bags they'd returned with. He and Leo had excellent hearing and he couldn't imagine needing it. Now he made a mental note to thank them.

And he knew that it was unlikely that Akito would wake in the middle of the night and that even if he did, he wouldn't leave the apartment without Machi. And even if Akito did try to leave, he didn't have security access to the elevator or stairwell doors so there was nowhere for him to go.

Raph sped up the stairs, too impatient for the elevator and quietly entered the dojo. When Don had the last apartment reconstructed into the family's dojo, he'd left one small bathroom and one of the smaller bedrooms, which Leo had turned into a meditation room. It's where Raph headed when he found the main room dark and empty. He found Leo sitting in a meditation pose on the floor while a few candles flickered on top of his bookshelf.

Leo had heard Raph enter and immediately wondered if the hothead had just come to drag him back downstairs where he could keep a better eye on him. He sighed in irritation when he sensed Raph sitting in front of him. After a few moments of silence from Raphael, Leo decided to just find out what he wanted. He opened his eyes but before he could say a single thing, Raphael pounced forward and knocked him backwards on his shell.

Raph kept his weight off of Leo but quickly covered Leo's surprised mouth with his own and pressed his tongue against Leo's lips demanding entrance. He opened his eyes when Leo kept his lips together and found Leo scowling at him. Raph narrowed his eyes at Leo and released a sound that was half growl and half churr while nudging a knee between Leo's legs so he could rub the bulge already present in his lower plastron against Leo. He watched Leo's eyes lower in surprise when he felt what had just rubbed against him before returning to meet his gaze.

"I thought you were too worried about hurting me," Leo said, dryly.

Raph smirked down at his stubborn mate and churred at him in response. This one finally seemed to do the trick as he watched lust darken Leo's blue eyes even as he tried to continue scowling at Raphael.

Raph dipped his head and began nipping and licking his way across the sensitive areas on Leo's neck. He felt Leo begin to squirm beneath him as a churr finally left Leo's throat. He lifted his head again and stared down at Leo's now half-lidded eyes.

'I realized I must be drivin you crazy, Leo. And not the good kind of crazy," he said as he leaned down to suck on part of Leo's neck. He felt Leo squirm again and let out another small churr. He pulled away again and waited for Leo's eyes to focus on him before he continued. "When I was sick, I just wanted _you_ and you stayed right with me and took care of me. But then you were taken away from me. And you were sick. And they hurt you. And I've just been tryin to take care of you to make up for not bein there before."

Leo lifted one of his hands and traced the curve of his face. "I know, Raphael."

Raphael smiled down at him and kissed him quickly before saying, "I can see now that I've probably been irritating the hell out of you, though. And I should probably thank you for not sluggin me." He watched Leo finally succumb to a laugh as the tense muscles in Leo's body beneath him finally relaxed. "I still don't want to hurt ya, but I think you had the right idea for stress release earlier," Raph said, smiling again as he rubbed his lower plastron against Leo. Leo churred and arched back towards Raph as much as his shell and his injured side would allow. Raph lowered his head to Leo's neck one more time and whispered to him, "You hold still so we don't hurt yer side and let me do the work."

He pulled away to look into Leo's eyes and once he received a single nod from Leo, pressed his mouth to Leo's once more. This time his tongue was immediately welcomed into Leo's mouth and he let one of his hands travel down Leo's plastron to rub at his mate's slit. Leo moaned again as he dropped down. Raph dropped down as well, wrapped his hand around the two of them together and began sliding his grip up and down their lengths.

"Is this what you needed, Leo?" he asked as Leo threw his head back and moaned.

"Need you," Leo managed to respond. He pulled Raph's head back down towards him and latched his teeth onto Raph's neck to hold him in place.

Raph groaned out appreciatively in response to the bite and rocked his hips back and forth as his entire body began to feel like it was overheating.

He felt Leo's teeth release him only to have the skin sucked into his mouth with the same ferocity. He gasped and moaned in response and his hand sped up its pace. He heard another churr from Leo as his hips thrust up into Raph's hand.

"Leo," Raph gasped out in warning and Leo released Raph's neck from his mouth only to throw his own head back and yell out Raph's name as his release hit him so hard he swore he felt his ears pop.

Despite the weakness in his limbs, Raph was still unwilling to drop all of his bulk on top of Leo so he rolled over to the side and ended up on his shell next to Leo instead. He turned his head to look at Leonardo and grinned as he watched Leo lay there panting with his eyes shut and a small smile on his face.


	15. Chapter 15

"No!" Machi said, throwing the cup Raphael had just handed her onto the floor.

"She'll take the red cup or nothing," Leo muttered over to Raph from his spot at the kitchen table where he sat cutting up Machi's food. He smiled over at Akito who grinned back at Leo as he happily sat eating his dinner.

"But yesterday it was the blue cup or nothing," Raph muttered back, digging through the dishwasher for the red cup. He filled the correct-colored cup and handed it to Machi who swiped it from his hand and plopped back down in her seat. Raphael was finally able to sit down as well and took Machi's plate from Leo and placed it in front of her. He almost held his breath as he watched her sniff the plate and inspect the food.

Leo watched Raph watch Machi and tried to hide a smile. And he thought he loved Raphael _before_ the kids moved in with them.

Machi frowned and pushed her plate away. "Want down," she said.

"You have to eat," Raph said, pushing the plate back in front of her.

She shoved it away again. "Down, please."

"I appreciate the please," Raph said slowly as he pushed the plate back to her seat. "But you still have to eat dinner."

"No!" Machi said, pushing the plate so it toppled off their table.

Raph stared at her and Leo watched him take a deep breath. He was enjoying sitting back as a spectator. He'd already gone through something similar with Machi at lunch. He didn't understand how a creature who ate so little could have so much energy.

Raph scooped her food off the floor and dumped it in the sink before sitting back down in his seat. "No throwing yer plate on the floor," he said to her with a frown on his face.

Machi laughed at his scowling face.

"How is that Akito is so calm and she's so -," he cut himself off and turned to his own plate.

"Really?" Leo asked, a little incredulously. "You can't imagine how one sibling can be calm and peaceful while another is loud and -what's the word I'm looking for, Raphie?"

"Adorable?"

"Obnoxious."

Raph turned and glared at Leo. Leo responded by reaching under the table and running his hand up Raph's leg.

Raph cleared his throat and glared at Leo for a completely new reason.

"We have discovered a trick to get her to eat," Leo said, ignoring the glare as he slid his hand back down Raph's leg.

"Care to share?" Raph growled over at him.

Leo looked over at Akito and nodded. Akito took Machi's fork, scooped up some of the food from his own plate and offered it to Machi who promptly ate it.

"Apparently, she only likes food that has touched her brother's plate," Leo said.

"That's ridiculous."

"As ridiculous as the time you swore you'd never touch your toy cars again because Mikey looked at them?"

Akito giggled.

"He didn't look at them. He sneezed on them. And I was six."

Raph glared at Leonardo again.

"I love you, hothead."

"Aishiteru, _Leo_ ," Raph said, his face softening as he glanced back at Leo before he took Machi's fork from Akito and began feeding her, from Akito's plate, which allowed Akito to go back to eating as well.

"I'm sorry she's so picky," Akito said, his big eyes suddenly darting back and forth between Raph and Leo.

Leonardo paused as he watched Akito. He glanced quickly to Raphael and then said, "We like her picky," he said. "Picky means she's feisty and the feisty ones tend to grow up to be fiercely protective and _sweet_." His eyes shot back over to Raphael who currently looked like he couldn't decide whether to be pleased or offended.

Akito nodded in response and seemed to mull over Leo's words as he continued eating.

Leo grinned into his cup as he took a drink. He was going to pay for these multiple jabs. And he was already looking forward to it.

When they were all finished, Raph scooped up Machi and took her over to the sink to clean some of the food out of her fur. They'd learned from Master Splinter not to bathe the kids at night because their fur would never dry in time before bed. But Raph kind of wished they could hose Machi down after every meal. Their father had clearly had it easy wiping down his four furless turtle sons when they were younger. Although, Leo liked to point out that Raphael used to run away from Master Splinter when he tried to clean his face after meals, so maybe sensei didn't have it all that easy after all.

Leo followed Akito into his bedroom and sat down in the chair at Akito's desk. He glanced around Akito's room and took in the sports theme bedding and rug that April and Sadie had apparently chosen for him. Leo and his brothers had never had much of a choice in what their sheets looked like when they were growing up, but he could see the appeal for a kid to have something fun on the comforter or the pillowcase.

"Is your room, ok, Akito?" Leo asked, watching Akito pull down some books from his bookshelf.

"Yes, of course it is," Akito said, smiling up at him.

"Because we want you to be comfortable here," Leo paused. "You know you're a permanent member of the Hamato clan now, right? You and Machi both." He watched Akito avert his eyes as he ran his fingers down the cover of the book he was holding. "You don't have to apologize for her picky eating or get worried every time she gets fussy. Trust me buddy, this family has had plenty of experience with picky _and_ fussy." He smiled down at Akito.

Akito lifted his eyes to Leo's and climbed up into his lap with his book. "Can I ask you a question, then?"

"Of course," Leo said, trying not to nod too enthusiastically while hoping he had the correct answer.

"Can we get a Captain America poster for my room?"

Leo blinked and then grinned. "Definitely, buddy."

Raph cleared his throat in Akito's doorway and smiled at Leo when he had his attention.

"Grandpa Splinter is here," he said.

Akito gasped in excitement, jumped down from Leo's lap and sprinted out to the living room with his book.

Raph walked over to Leo and pulled him up from the chair so he could kiss him. "Nice job. Think he understands?"

"I'm not sure. We'll just have to keep a close eye on him."

Raph nodded and squeezed Leo to his side as they headed out to the living room. They thanked Master Splinter for watching the kids and headed downstairs where Donnie was waiting for them in his lab.

"I'm impressed that you haven't pulled the stitches out yourself before now, but you're still going to have go easy on the muscles on this side," Donnie said as he removed the last stitch from Leo's previous injury.

Leonardo looked up from his seat to grin at Raph.

"You think that means I should keep doing all the heavy liftin?" Raph asked Leo with a smirk. Since the night they'd come to a _compromise_ in the dojo a couple weeks ago, Raphael had found plenty of ways to play caretaker for Leonardo.

"Doctor's orders that I continue to take it easy," Leo said, practically purring.

"So you think I should keep carryin yer weight?" Raph asked, punctuating the last few words.

Leo slid his eyes from Raph's face down to his shoulders and arms.

"Those arms have never complained about carrying my weight before," Leo said as he watched something spark in Raph's green eyes.

"I. Am. Sitting. Right. Here," Donnie said, sighing heavily as he did his best to avoid looking at his brothers' faces.

"Don't worry, Don," Raph said, his voice already huskier than it was a moment before. "I'm going to take care of the troublemaker."

"No details, for the love of God," Donnie growled. "Just get out of here."

Raph pulled Leo up off the stool and led him to the stairwell.

"Thanks, Donnie," Leo called over his shoulder as Raph used the retinal scanner to get the door open.

"You're wel-," Donnie began to say but realized when he looked up that his brothers were already through the door. He shook his head in mock aggravation and made a mental note to take the elevator when he left in a few minutes.

Raph had Leo's shell shoved into the wall and Leo had his legs wrapped around Raph's waist as soon as the stairwell door clicked shut. Raph's hands gripped Leo's thighs and hefted him up higher.

"These arms, Raph," Leo said, sliding his fingers up and over Raphael's biceps.

Raph churred out Leo's name and pressed his mouth against Leo's neck. He felt a shiver run down his spine as Leo's fingers squeezed his upper arm muscles again.

"You're so beautiful, Raphael," Leo sighed out, tilting his head to the side to give Raph more access as he felt him begin to nip and kiss his way across his neck.

"Yer sure I'm not obnoxious?"

"Teenager you was definitely obnoxious," Leo said, laughing as he felt Raphael bite a little harder into his neck. "But you were still my favorite."

Raph tightened his grip on Leo's legs and groaned as he dropped down right there in the stairwell. Leo grinned and reached down to his belt to pull out a small tube of lube.

"Yer packin?" Raph said, smirking as he rubbed himself against Leo's plastron, encouraging Leo to drop down as well.

"It's better to be prepared," Leo groaned out, "especially when we're on borrowed time."

"Yer such a boyscout," Raph said, running his tongue along Leo's pulse point on his neck.

"You'll be thanking me in a minute," Leo said, covering Raphael with the lube before hefting himself up higher in Raph's arms to direct Raph to his entrance.

"Yer not prepped, Fearless," Raph said, trying to contain a moan as he felt Leo's hand on him.

" _Babysitter_ , Raph. No time," Leo gasped out, pushing himself down onto Raphael. He tucked his face into Raph's neck and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt Raphael's hands tighten on his legs.

Raph rubbed his face against the side of Leo's face as he felt Leo's leg muscles begin to tremble. He looked down between them and realized Leo was going soft.

"My hands are busy _carrying yer weight_ ," he whispered, tightening his hands around Leo's legs in emphasis, "so I need you to reach down and start doing my job."

Leo released one of Raph's arms and reached down to begin stroking himself.

"Faster, Leo," Raph said, and watched in wonder as Leo did as he was instructed. He was having an even harder time now holding himself still as he watched the glorious show in his lap. "Oh, fuck, Leo," Raph groaned out, watching Leo's hand move swiftly over himself. "And you think I'm beautiful."

He kissed what he could reach of Leo's face until Leo lifted his face from Raph's neck and began kissing him in return. Raph took the cue and immediately began thrusting himself repeatedly into Leonardo. Leo's grip on Raph's bicep tightened and he broke their kiss so he could moan out Raph's name as he stroked himself in time with Raph's thrusts.

Leo forced his eyes to focus on Raphael's before pressing his lips to Raphael's lips again. He let out a strangled moan into Raph's mouth as he finished, squeezing himself around Raph and pulling a roar out of Raphael as he finished as well.

Raphael slumped forward, pressing Leo's shell harder against the wall as they slid to the ground.

"Love you, Raphie," Leo panted.

Raphael let his weight drop on Leo as his arms trembled from the workout. "Love ya, Leo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. The next story in this series is called "Teamwork"


End file.
